MEGADETH Killing is my Business… And Business is Good! Is the debut album from the American thrashers. After Mustaine was ejected from his previous band Metallica he immediately set about starting up a band that was would be faster and better than Metallica. I guess whether you think Megadeth are better than Metallica is subjective, but they were definitely faster and more technically proficient than Metallica were with their debut than Metallica were on “Kill ’em All”
The album opens up with a creepy keyboard / piano intro and straight into the song Loved to Deth. It’s immidiately obvious that band leader Dave Mustaine is light years of where Metallica were in terms of song writing and technical ability. To be fair he also had a couple of years to up his game after the first Metallica record came out.
The album is short and sweet and barely clocks in over half an hour but it’s an intense ride of some of the most intense shredding guitars that have ever been committed to tape. It’s raw, its ugly and vicious. This is one special album and something that every self respecting metalhed should check out. The next song, “Killing is my business…” continues on unrelentingly. Mustaines voice has been criticised at length by many metal fans and the media, but on this album (and the next couple) I have to say it fits the music perfectly, and angry snarling texture as opposed to the whiney texture it adopted later on.
The other amazing part of this album is that Mustaine found musicians who were able to keep up with his playing. That would have been no mean feat either. Legend has it, that a good portion of the recording budget for this album was spent on “substances” and was lucky to have even come out as good as it did. Maybe it just added to the feeling and tense atmosphere the album has. I personally wouldn’t change anything about it.
The song “Rattlehead” is obviously about the bands mascot Vic Rattlehead, but is also on the of the fastest pieces of guitar work I’ve ever heard. Even to this day. Some ripping solos, it’s a guitar players wet dream.
From a recording point of view there’s some roughness in this recording. I think it adds to the charm. The bass sound is excellent and Dave Ellefsons bass playing and skill really shines though, especially in the song “The Chosen ones”. The Drums sound a bit “boofy” in parts, but the kicks come through nicely, something both the bass and kick drum sounds something I feel was missing from Metallica’s debut album. Now here’s the kicker, the Megadeth re-worked the song Mustaine wrote for Metallica, “The Four Horsemen” but called it by the name he’d originally named it “The Mechanix”. Just to prove a point to his former band-mates the band plays it at near double speed. It’s so fast it boggles the mind. The album closes off the curiously chosen “These Boots” a cover of Nancy Sinatra song. This has since been deleted off the album in recent represses but definitely worth hearing if you can find an original version of the album.
Over all this album can’t be faulted. I’d say out of the big four of thrash debut albums it’s probably the most musically accomplished. I’d say Dave Mustaine achieved his goal of out thrashing Metallica. Metallica, however at his point, were nowhere to be seen in the local scene as they were already busy, off touring Europe and playing festivals by the time this came out.
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