Review Summary: Thrash is our business...and business is off to a great start anyway
Does anybody recognize
Youthanasia,
Cryptic Writings, or even enjoy
Risk? How about that new record of theirs,
Th1rt3en? They certainly didn't disappoint with these albums, but they all lacked the thing that made the Megadeth of old far superior: prowess. It seemed at the time of these newer labels that Megadeth's skill in the field of thrash was scaling downward, and to be perfectly honest, has not yet shown any signs of returning to the band's former glory days of
Rust in Peace or
Peace Sells.... This is the debut album for the band, and it catapults them to levels that quite frankly, Metallica never achieved, even in their own time with Mustaine. Megadeth have always shown to be more productive than Metallica, especially in their early albums.
Killing is My Business... is the second milestone for Mustaine's development, (having been kicked out of Metallica), and it displayed the band in every prominent angle they could think of. To put it in simple terms...it rules so ***ing hard.
Killing is My Business... is probably the most simple Megadeth album to date. This can be thought of as a good thing, or a bad thing, and both opinions can be taken respectively. Megadeth is young of course, and I would find it difficult myself to wrap my head around a glorious genre like thrash, and be able to put it in stone, and make a rocking album like this, given Mustaine’s circumstances that is. While this wasn't, isn't, and probably never will be a truly recognized and appreciated Megadeth effort, but given that this album came about from poor production, (so says 90% of the population who've heard this, I disagree) I’d say it did pretty well. And why wouldn't it? It's thrash and speed metal thrown into a cauldron, and mixed together. If there is any doubt that that is not one of the most gorgeous thoughts you can have about music, shut up anyway.
So the album starts off with one of the controversial things I’ve ever heard Megadeth do: piano? It really reminded me of the intro to Opeth's
Heritage, but besides that, it creeps into the album nicely. When the eerie periods of bass are over, that's when the album really takes off. The next track starts off as one of the best intros to any song off this album. This self-titled track starts off rather similarly to its predecessor, but explodes into speed and thrash much quicker. The album keeps on keepin on for the most part after that. I find
Rattlehead to be the most entertaining song on the album. Not only does it provide a more comedic (personal peeeeeeerrreference) side to Megadeth, especially for the early days, but it has the best riffs.
In terms of thrash and/or speed metal, which you’ve surely gotten the idea now that this is indeed what it is, the album is one of the best of its time. Its development came about from (what used to be anyway) the easiest of standards. It’s obvious that production wasn’t the main concern for this album. But let’s face it, thrash was better back in the days when raw and pissed attitudes were portrayed instead of trying to polish up every single note and snare in the album. So with that, I give you Megadeth’s second finest work of the 80’s. (We can’t forget about
Peace Sells…But Who Gives Two ***s now can we?)
