Megadeth - 3 Best Albums

With 12 studio albums spanning 26 years, Megadeth are among the most prolific metal bands ever. Their 13th studio album is planned for release later this year and so it’s just about the best time to look back and see which albums are their best.
Of course, this is only my opinion and others will disagree but that’s what the comment section is for. So, in no particular order, here are what I consider to be Megadeth’s three best albums.

Rust In Peace

Megadeth fans won’t be surprised at all to see this listed as one of their best albums. Released in 1990, Rust In Peace was a landmark for Megadeth and shot them to new levels of success. This was the first album I heard by Megadeth and it got me hooked on them right away.
The raw feeling of the music on previous Megadeth albums was replaced by a more professional sounding heavy metal and the result was a masterpiece. The opening song “Holy Wars... The Punishment Due” sets the tone right away, an angry and technical album with strong political themes that was holding nothing back. “Hanger 18” is my favourite Megadeth song, the one which made me listen to the album and the solos in that song are matched only by Marty Friedman’s excellent solo for “Tornado of Souls”.

The lyrical themes on the album cover topics from religion to conspiracy and it doesn’t let up at any point, thundering on with an unrelenting momentum which carries on right to the end, taking only a brief moment to catch a breath with “Dawn Patrol”.
This was the first album with Nick Menza and the aforementioned Marty Friedman on drums and lead guitar respectively. This line-up, completed by Dave Mustaine and Dave Ellefson, is regarded by many to be the definitive Megadeth line-up and after a debut like this, it’s easy to see why.

Endgame

Megadeth built themselves on the philosophy of being “faster and heavier” than other metal bands and Endgame fits in with that spectacularly. Continuing Megadeth’s return to its roots of pure thrash metal, Endgame sports some of the most blistering guitar work and hypnotic riffs ever heard on a Megadeth record. New guitarist Chris Broderick displays his talents in frantic trade off solos on pretty much every track and his skill and speed match that of Mustaine.
Opening on “Dialectic Chaos”, a fantastic instrumental which flows seamlessly into the next song, “This Day We Fight!”, it’s clear that Endgame is an album for metal lovers.

Endgame is like classic Megadeth. It captures all the raw ferocity of their early work and sets it lose with the high production values and technical polish of a modern recording. It displays, without a shadow of a doubt, that Megadeth are still just as fast and just as skilled as they always were, more so even.

Youthanasia

In the 1990s, Megadeth changed their sound to be less heavy and more melodic. It was a gradual change which went on longer than most fans would have liked. I feel it hit the sweet spot in between metal and melody with Youthanasia.
Each song on this album has a complete and satisfying feel to it, a fullness which highlights the talent of the Rust In Peace era line-up. Menza’s drum beats on this album are among his best and the rhythm and pacing is hypnotic. “Addicted to Chaos” is one of Megadeth’s greatest songs and that level of quality saturates the record. “Elysian Fields”, “Reckoning Day” and the title track, “Youthanasia”, are all incredible pieces of music and reveal the level to which Megadeth have developed as a band since they first began.

The album deals with some dark themes, such as incest and death, and such a tone hangs over the whole thing. There’s something about it which just feels right, it’s hard to explain. “Reckoning Day” explodes into life immediately and the album rolls on with the same energy right up until the very last note of “Victory”. It’s an engaging and powerful album and is an example of the excellence Megadeth can achieve.

I’m greatly excited for Megadeth’s next album and will no doubt love it. Maybe if I were to write this article a year from now one of the entries would be different. Only time will tell.