Megadeth - Peace Sells...But Who's Buying?
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Free Music Notes for Peace Sells...But Who's Buying?
Free Music Review: A thrash classic filled with magnificent musicianship.
Hit: 5 Stars
Megadeth have really had an up and down career. A few of their albums will always be remembered as thrash classics while others are almost laughably misguided ("Risk" for example). "Peace Sells...But Who's Buying?" is undoubtedly one of the albums to be labelled a classic along with 1990s "Rust in Peace". When you consider that it was released in the same year as Slayer's "Reign in Blood" and Metallica's "Master of Puppets", it's hard to deny that 1986 was a hugely defining year for metal music.
I wasn't particularly impressed with Megadeth's debut album "Killing is My Business...and Business is Good!", but this album absolutely blew me away. What had previously appeared to be a second rate, poor mans Metallica, had suddenly transformed into a thriving entity with a sound all their own. There were no changes in line-up between the two releases and yet the quality of musicianship increased dramatically. The rawness of the previous album was left behind and replaced with crystal clarity. Rather than just thrashing wildly, "Peace Sells...But Who's Buying?" is filled with awesome riff after awesome riff, not to mention truly brilliant lead work by Dave Mustaine and Chris Poland. I'd have to say it's the soloing that really elevates this album to such heights. It's more and more a lost art these days which is hard to understand since when they are done well, solos add character and texture to solid foundations. Just check out "Good Mourning / Black Friday" for inspired fret board activity!
Whereas Mustaine's vocals were rather awkward in the past, he'd now found a style and theme that perfectly complimented his unique technique. The subject matter swings between a tongue in cheek rebelliousness and horror / science fiction elements. Tracks such as "Peace Sells" displays the anti-government behaviour, while others such as "The Conjuring" present a more fictitious movie inspired premise. Both would become customary ingredients of the Megadeth blueprint and even be successfully combined on "Rust in Peace" with government cover-ups of alien visitations.
I love almost every song on the album, although I have to say "Devil's Island" isn't quite as good and the cover "I Ain't Superstitious" doesn't really fit the album all that well. I'm really quite opposed to covers appearing on albums. Unless they can be played in a very similar style and mood as all the surrounding tracks, then they tend to be nothing more than disruptive. I say save them for the EPs or compilation albums and this one's no different. But if that's the worst thing I have to say about "Peace Sells...But Who's Buying?", then it's obviously an album I thoroughly enjoy. With classics such as "Wake Up Dead", "The Conjuring" and the title track, this is nothing if not a thrashing masterpiece. If you don't already have it, go get it!
Free Music Review: Much more than a face-lift; the best of the remasterings
Hit: 5 Stars
The thing that this album suffered from the most back in 1986 was the production. Even for the time, this was a low-budget production. (Drug Money must have taken precedence over the band at the time.) For example: If you listen to Anthrax's "Fistful of Metal" which was recorded two years earlier, it even sounds better than the original "Peace Sells".
But finally the time has arrived, the remaster is here. When I bought it I was struck by how much better you can hear the bassist. I thought the bass lines on the original were great, but thanks to the remaster I just found out how great they all were. The cymbals on the drums are a lot clearer and don't fade into one another like on the original. The snare action is higher pitched and easier to hear than on the original. The part of the drum kit that benefited the most from the remaster was the bass drums. I have 10" subwoofers in my car and I can tell you the bass drums hit hard at every part. (The problem with the original was the bass drums would be audible sometimes and impossible to hear at others; in the remaster they are consistent, i.e. always audible.) The vocals are a little bit sharper, and the guitars are more level (volume wise) throughout the album.
This is one of the best remasterings I have ever heard. Dave must have spent a lot of time on this one. Having said this there are some slight downsides. One is on the song "The Conjuring", a whirling-echoing guitar effect nearly drowns out the end of the Dave's vocal before the song's bridge. Also on "Peace Sells", the drums song kinda hallow at the beginning. There is also a little bit of background noise. But these are really small complaints compared to this superior product! (For a stylistic review of the album, see my review for the original print.) If you buy the remaster I bet that you will appreciate this already great album in a whole new way.
I really hope they start remastering some of the eighties Thrash stuff. Anthrax and Testament remasters? Probably too much to hope for...
P.S. Don't believe the BS about Dave "re-recording" parts of this album; that one reviewer seems to believe in fiction as opposed to audio fact. The album they re-recorded parts of was Rust in Peace...and that's only because they lost the vocal tracks. Speaking as someone who has more than adequate training to remaster (Analog-24-bit), the source tape remains the same. I compared it to the original as soon as I bought it. The 700,000 dollar studio decks they have can change the sound of anything...its about knowing how to change it right. Which they have done here. Amen. Buy it. Now.
Free Music Review: I'm out to destroy and I will cut you down!
Hit: 5 Stars
Wow. 1986 was quite a year for metal, wasn't it? Reign in Blood and Master of Puppets are the two albums that immediately come to mind. For some reason, Peace Sells doesn't get mentioned as often. And to be honest, I certainly wasn't expecting this album to be as good as Megadeth's other highly acclaimed album, Rust in Peace. Boy, was I wrong.
This album has the most unique sound out of any thrash metal album I have ever heard. Perhaps this is somewhat due to lead guitarist Chris Poland and drummer Gar Samuelson, both of whom used to play in a jazz fusion band. However, according to the liner notes, Dave Mustaine wrote all the music and lyrics(with the exception of the blues song cover, of course). Now that's impressive! In any case, the best way to describe the album's sound is aggressive thrash/speed metal with a touch of jazz fusion and a pinch of classical.
Every song is VERY well written and extremely well performed. There are so many killer riffs in each song; it even kinda makes Master of Puppets look bad! On an interesting note, every song on the album has at least a short passage of staccato, palm muted sixteenth notes being hammered away at full speed! That may seem repetitive, but it's actually quite exhilarating, and it adds to the unique sound of the album. The lead guitar work is exceptional(sometimes even beautiful such as in the intro to Good Mourning), by ANY musical standards. The solos are far more than your standard pentatonic scales, to say the least. Even Dave Mustaine, who sticks to the standard metal shredding on Rust in Peace, solos like a virtuoso on this album. The rhythm guitar, drums, and bass are as good as you would expect on a great thrash metal album, so I won't delve into them. The lyrics are also what you would expect, avoiding cliche song subjects and what not. Dave Mustaine's voice fits perfectly. As much as I'd love to expand on these things, I'm trying to keep this review as short as possible. Suffice it to say the nonconformist tendencies of metal are well represented here.
On a final note, get the remastered(and remixed) version. It sounds fantastic, and assuming that the Randy Burns mixes included as bonus tracks are how the album used to sound, the remasters are a HUGE improvement.
Your music collection is not complete without this album. There is nothing else like it.
EDIT: Actually, the Randy Burns mixes are from before Capitol Records did the mixing themselves, and the original CD sounds good in its own way. I still recommend the remaster if you're new to the album.
Free Music Review: "I love fall out boy!!!" needs to shut up!
Hit: 5 Stars
To quote this f**king dips***:
"i hate megadeath. the lead singer can't sing. hence the word "singer". his guitaring is overrated. when my guy friend was listening to this, i demanded he turn it off, because the songs are very bad. he got kicked out of metallica i heard. how hard can that be. he must really suck if you can get kicked out of metallica. megadeath is just another overrated metal band from the 1980's. listen to modern emo or punk like Green Day and avoid this. its an excuse for music. too many people on this website like this and it annoys me."
Green Day: They made one good thing in their career, but only one, and this is that they wrote a song about you that is called 'American Idiot'. Beside that they just flat-out suck!
ILFOB doesn't know what she's talking about. She spits on great bands like Faith No More and Slayer yet worships s**t like Good Charlotte and *barfing* Fall Out Boy.
I love fall out boy "(melissa)", If you're reading this I'll advise you to do this.
1. Don't write that bulls**t you wrote in your 'About Me', you're not 16 and not hot. You're a 12 years old virgin with no life and it seems that all you have to do is to sit in the front of your computer and write bullcrap on Amazon.
2. Don't watch MTV.
3. Actually listen to this, it's amazing.
4. F**k off.
5. Get a life.
6. DON'T WATCH MTV!!!!!!!!
Now to the album, it's Deth's 2nd best album next to 'Rust in Peace'. The best song the title track (it was also the first song I heard by them). Everything kicks ass here. Dave Mustaine is easily a top 10 metal guitarist of all time. He's better than what Billy Joe would ever dream to be.
Here's the rating for the songs (I own the older version of this CD so the rating applies to this)
Wake Up Dead- 10/10
The Conjouring- 10/10
Peace Sells- 30/10
Devils Island- 9/10
Good Mourning/Black Frida- 11/10
Bad Omen- 10/10
I Ain't Superstitious- 7/10
My Last Words- 10/10
Oh god in heaven! Please make this stop! Where all those idiots come from?! We have this MTV rocks who trashes Iron Maiden and Dream Theater yet praises Coldplay and 50 Cent. That moron "World Best Air Guitarist" trashes Maiden yet likes Simple Plan. And the @$$hole I responded now trashes this but recommends Green Day over this!
I have an idea, if you think this album rules and ILFOB sucks donkey balls hit "yes". If you agree with this moron and thinks that this album sucks (if you think so, you suck too) hit "no".
Free Music Review: Not Perfect But Perfectly Metal: Peace Is A Part Of The Thrash/Speed Bible.
Hit: 5 Stars
In 1986, when Peace Sells...But Who's Buying? came out, most of the world was either listening to the new wave techno MTV bands or they were partying with hair-metal bands like Motley Crue and Ratt and Poison and the likes. Underground metal was starting to make some noise and die-hards were spotted at school wearing t-shirts from bands like Slayer and Exodus and Anthrax and Megadeth and Metallica and such.
Born of the vengeance of Dave Mustaine and his willingness to to anything necessary to show up his former bandmates in Metallica, Megadeth was born. The fastest, thrashiest, most obnoxious speed metal band that ever lived was what Mustaine was going for. But he wanted to have talent around him, too. Not only was Megadeth thrashing it up, they were techinically good musicians. Chris Poland on guitar and Gar Samuelson on drums round out Dave Mustaine and Dave Ellefson and Megadeth head into their second album.
"Wake Up Dead" a Megadeth staple tune and a certified rocker. The lyrics are a little juvenille now that we can look back, but otherwise a very cool tune. "The Conjuring" musically stunning, lyrically trying to be evil in the Mercyful Fate Satan-is-good kind of sense, except he's asking us to cojure Dave Mustaine instead of Lucifer. Kinda freaky cool. "Peace Sells" one of the greatest metal tunes ever written and of course Megadeth's most recognized tune. The bass line was the music for MTV news forever. Great song! Very anti-establishment! Sit up and notice me! This was Megadeth extreme! "Devils Island" a hard rocking tune based on the classic novel Papillon, showed us Mustaine was literate as well as pissed off. Great. "Good Mourning/Black Friday" another musical stunner with murderous, I-will-cut-you-down lyrics, almost feels like a leftover from Killing Is My Business...And Business Is Good! Metal, but kinda regressive. "Bad Omen" starts off like Good Mourning/Black Friday, a little eerie. Truns into a thrash-metal burner. Not really a memorable tune, missing some hooks. "I Ain't Superstitious" probably the most straight-forward rock tune, a cover, of course. "My Last Words" same intro as Good Mourning & Bad Omen? Soundz a little familiar. All out thrash metal.
Overall, Peace Sells... wil always be remembered as one of the pioneering albums of Thrash & Speed Metal. Truly great! A classic. One of the greatest heavy metal albums ever recorded.
Dig it!