Megadeth-Peace Sells, But Who’s Buying?
When Dave Mustaine was booted from Metallica, he put all of his venomy anger into his early music. Considered by some to be the band’s greatest work,
Peace Sells, But Who’s Buying was released at what was a good time for heavy music. Metallica’s
Master of Puppets and Slayer’s
Reign in Blood were also released in 1986, but this album, in my opinion, tops both of them. While I do not feel that this is Megadeth’s classic album, I still believe that it is an incredible piece full of poisonous rage and political wit.
At the time of the release, Megadeth were made up of:
Dave Mustaine- Vocals, guitar
Chris Poland- Lead guitar
David Ellefson (Junior)- Bass
Gary (Gar) Samuelsson- Drums
Both Poland and Samuelsson are schooled in jazz and fusion styles of music, which only serves to give this album uniqueness from other albums of the era of the NWOAHM. Anyhow, onto the review:
1. Wake Up Dead: The album opens up with a technical, angst-ridden song. Mustaine sings with a wasted-sounding growl, which adds to the “sleazy” feel of the song. This song is mainly instrumental, but the few lyrics it has are about adultery: “I sneak in my own house, it’s four in the morning. I had too much to drink, said I was out with the boys.” The climax of this song is its high point for sure, with an incredible riff, solo, and harmonized vocals. To top it all off, the “army voice” (group vocals) is put to use! This is one of the best songs on this opus, and an excellent opener, so I award it
5/5.
2. The Conjuring: A very simplistic high-string riff starts the second song. I think that this song is about blasphemy, with odd lyrics that are, well, blasphemous. Mustaine’s vocals are annoying in this song, and to cap that off, there is an irritating flanger effect layered on them. The ending of this song redeems the mediocre rest of it, though. For this reason, I give this song
3.5/5
3. Peace Sells: This song is the title track as well as the lead single. This song always pops up on Megadeth anthologies, and with good reason. The funky bassline at the start was stolen by MTV (it is now used for their news broadcasts) because it is so innovative and catchy. I don’t enjoy the lyrics to this song (too sarcastic) and the ending repeats itself too many times. The little fills in between lyrics sound like a laugh track, which gives the song a cool twist. This is a very good song, but because the ending is too lengthy, it gets a
4/5.
4. Devil's Island: Opens with a heavy "spider crawl" riff. Dave's singing in this number, I think, is TERRIBLE. It has many good solos, though, so that makes up for it. The lyrics in it are about a condemned prisoner, and the song couldn't make it any clearer. I don' know really what else to say about this song.
3.5/5
5. a) Good Mourning: This is a clean, beautiful opening to the hectic wank-fest that is Black Friday. This song’s lyrics, however few, seem random. (“Hey, I don’t feel so good, something’s not right. Something’s coming over me, but what the f*ck is this?”) This song is short but sweet, as well as a fantastic introduction.
5/5.
5. b) Black Friday: This is truly Megadeth’s fastest and most Slayer-like song. It is wanky and technical at the same time, with some crazy solos performed by Poland and Mustaine. The second-to-final riff in this song is to die for. The outro, though….gah. Dave’s voice is off-key, and it just sounds awful. This would be an incredible song if not for the outro. Because of this, it scores
4/5.
6. Bad Omen: I ADORE this introduction. It is softly distorted, with incredible pinch-harmonics. This song, although very good, just does not fully click for me after the intro. It has too many “wee-wee-wees” in it (listen to the song) and the solos are not very good. Sorry folks, this song just isn’t that great.
3.5/5
7. I Ain’t Superstitious: I don’t get it. Why is this cover so “god-awful?” Every other review on this site hugely puts this song down. I, however, enjoy the change of pace this song brings to this album, as well as the virtuosic solos it contains. The lyrics are humorous but stupid. This song, as I said before, is a different listening experience, so I enjoy it.
3.5/5
8. My Last Words: The perfect closing song. This number proves Junior’s worth on the bass, with a bass/guitar duet beginning the song. This is a very sad song, being about deaths in the game of Russian Roulette. This is probably another one of the best songs on here, if not the singular best. The end of this song is to die for, with morbid lyrics: “You are next up, you are next to die.” Fantastic song and great way to end the album.
5/5.
Well, that’s it. If you enjoy thrash, you owe it to yourself to buy this, or at least download it. If you hated
Rust In Peace because of his vocals, stay far, far away from this, as his vocals on this are a lot worse.
Pros:
+ Solos!
+ Lyrics
+ Bass tone
+ Bass work
+ Drumming
Cons:
- Dave’s voice
- Production
Overall, this gets a low 4/5 because if you have it, you won’t always want to listen to it. That’s my view on this album, anyway.
FINAL GRADE:
4/5
87%
A-
Enjoy. Please vote and comment.
. Heh heh. Thanks though.
