Megadeth: Killing Is My Business...And Business Is Good - 1985
Perhaps yet another odd choice, but hear me out. Even the most feral of Megadeth fanboys have to admit that the lyrics to "Rattlehead", "The Chosen Ones", "Mechanix", and that cover of "These Boots Are Made for Walking" more than flirt with low-rent, and while Megadeth might have classed up with later efforts on this album they were uglier and scuzzier than some other bands on this thread I could name. And if you're still not convinced then you can **** off. This is my ****ing thread and I'll do as I like.
Other Megadeth albums might have been more accomplished, but this album will always have a place in my heart since A.) it was the first Megadeth album I ever owned and one of the first metal albums to boot, and B.) it's one of the angriest albums ever made. It's like a hissing viper that's just been kicked out of it's band by its best friends and replaced by some guy with a mustache. I kind of think of this as the true spiritual successor to
Kill 'Em All. After Davey Dave left Metallica dropped a lot of the "Metal for metal's sake" thing they had going on ("Whiplash", "Metal Militia",
Metal Up Yous Ass, etc), and a lot of the more pure hardcore influences for a more serious, epic style. This is perfectly shown by how they rewrote "Mechanix", a punk metal song if ever there was one, into "Four Horsemen", which I see as a move toward the darker, more progressive sound that
Ride the Lightning and subsequent albums explored. But
Killing Is My Business shows all the bug-eyed metal worship that they left behind.
I guess what isn't necessarily so scuzzy is the playing on this album. Holy **** that **** is fast. Grindcore might be faster, but those cats are generally playing much simpler stuff. I'm not a very good judge of technical prowess, but when I hear that rhythm guitar in "Rattlehead", those perfect riffs flying past at light speed, my jaw is dropped. Perhaps he's just holding his hand steady and playing chords that are right next to each other, but even so that's still insane. I might take the piss with Dave Mustaine but that guy's rhythm guitar playing puts most
lead guitarists to shame. And I'd just like to point out that there's sort of a loose rule in metal that making something more technical can often come at the expense of intensity, but Megadeth are one of those bands that **** on this rule. The more precise they are, the more intense they get. Brilliant ****ing band.
But technically proficient or not, Megadeth are still a filthy sounding band to me, especially on this album. Rather than sounding like robot music like a lot of tech death or Yngwie Malmsteen they manage to sound rock'n'roll as ****, which has always made me think of them as miles away from most thrash bands, cause most of these bands sound anything but rock'n'roll. The impression they give me is if AC/DC got so ****ed up on meth that they couldn't walk straight and then tried to play, but everything came out all wrong cause they couldn't stop their hands from skittering along their guitars like spiders on ice, and Bon Scott's bleeding out of his mouth cause he's literally lacerated his vocal chords from screaming so loudly. Considering Megadeth's reputation, and Dave Mustaine in particular, this may not be so far from the truth.
And I've got to mention that anger again too. "Last Rites/Loved to Death" is one of the most blistering openers I've ever heard. Even the piano at the beginning sounds pissed off. And then it explodes into sizzling riffs that, without even listening to the lyrics, express a level of rage that borders on the psychotic. But when Dave's vocals kick in it all makes sense. The lyrics to the song are actually a thinly veiled metaphor for his, at the time, recent history with Metallica. He's pretty much saying that since he can't be in the band he wants to murder them. Musically murder them mind you, but still, that kind of vitriol can only have a desire for legitimate violence behind it. I get the feeling that anyone listening to Dave talk around that period must have had an internal monologue going on that went something like, "Dude, yeah, I know. **** Metallica. But can we just play cards now?"