Megadeth - Peace Sells...But Who's Buying? 25thanniversary reissue

Mon 8th Aug, 2011 in Music Reviews

When Megadeth released Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? front man, and the bands driving creative force, Dave Mustaine was living in an abandoned loft without running water or power. Despite already having a cult metal hit under his bullet belt, Killing is my Business… and Business is Good!, he was homeless, addicted and pissed off and, after a quarter of a century, it’s Mustaine’s vitriol that sustains this thrash metal classic.

In less than a minute of album opener Wake Up Dead you’ve been treated to Mustaine’s gut wrenching vocals, a mammoth riff and one of the records fastest guitar solos. This outlines a trend for the record, Megadeth change things up often and change them at blistering speed. Metal anthems are few, the band favouring prog flavoured key changes and riff swapping, while Good Mourning/Black Friday starts an entirely new song on the one track. Peace Sells offers no rest and its abrasive structure bludgeons you before leading the titular chant.

This isn’t the first reissue of Peace Sells, Mustaine remastered it in 2004 with a stack of extra tracks, but this is definitely the best sounding. Producer David Wolfe has managed to bring clarity to the original eight album tracks and songs like The Conjuring and Bad Omen are given a meaty boost to the guitars that add to their original electrifying sound. Mustaine’s lyrics are spat out shrouded in effects to cover his still evolving yelps, but while you may miss the odd lyric, his venomous delivery ensures you don’t miss their intent.

The real magic though is that, while it does sound a little crisper, it still manages to sound as raw as it did when it was first released. This is not just the work of fancy fine tuning, but well written, passionate songs. Megadeth needed to make it; if they didn’t produce something to blow the competition away and grab the attention of a major label they would have been left destitute. My Last Words could have indeed been Mustaine’s last recorded words. The sounds of a band being it’s best, not because it is, but because it has to be, permeates the urgency of every double kick blast and shredding solo still to this day.

Alongside the record is an unreleased recording of the band live on tour following its original release. Not only is it a great example of rough and wild shows the band would play, but shows how close Peace Sells comes to emulating their live sound. For new fans the set has a handful of tracks from their debut record, including their vulgar cover of These Boots Are Made For Walking.

Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying? is not only a classic Megadeth and metal record, but a classic record of modern rock music. After 25 years it’s still faster, heavier and uglier than a lot of contemporary metal acts and its influence can be heard across bands like Mastodon and Trivium. It still sounds amazing out of your speakers now and in another 25 years it still will.