MEGADETH’S RUST IN PEACE: LAUNCH THE POLARIS

THE NEVER-ENDING ONLINE DISCOURSE™ AROUND RUST IN PEACE

I first listened to Rust in Peace when I was 14, after seeing some comments on the internet comparing Master of Puppets with this particular album. I had started looking up pretty much everything I listened to back then, so I would often find myself reading discussions like that. And, well, I still do. I mean, makes sense considering I’m doing a blog like this, right… Yeah. But I don’t think I really comprehended just how good of an album Rust in Peace was at the time.

Up until this point, my ear was used to the straightforward melodic riffs and solos of Metallica songs. I mean, like most people, they were also my entry point into metal music, so my first impression of Rust in Peace was actually that it sounded a little… crowded. Even then, though, “crowded” wasn’t a bad thing. There was melody underneath all that chaos in the songs that kept drawing me back in, even if I couldn’t immediately set it apart from the whole track. What I called “crowded” back then, I would describe as layered now.

I also have to admit that the music itself wasn’t the only thing pulling me towards Megadeth at the time. Learning how Dave Mustaine was kicked out of Metallica, only to watch them become successful while still using some of the riffs he had written back then, honestly made me root for the underdog. This is basic human psychology, I guess. I mean, if you’re going to hold a grudge, releasing Rust in Peace is a pretty good way of doing it. Not just a good album either, but this ridiculously technical, insane thing that somehow still managed to be listenable and made the band one of those, leading thrash at its ABSOLUTE PEAK.

The Onion agrees.

Coincidentally, this also lines up with the time I got my first electric guitar. As my taste became more and more metal-ish, I definitely felt like I needed to get in on that action myself. It wasn`t just fangirling either, but the ridiculous rockstar fantasy where I´m touring in a van with my band not showering…just normal stuff like that.

But I can say with absolute honesty that writing this review was the first time I actually opened the tabs on Songsterr for Rust in Peace. Everyone and their mom talks about how crazy and difficult the riffs and solos on this album are. I mean, it’s been what, 36 years since it came out? At this point, pretty much every second of it has been nitpicked and analyzed to death, and somehow, it still holds up after all this time, unlike most.

So I’m giving myself a little bit of credit for not jumping into it earlier, or more honestly, I probably just couldn’t bring myself to. Either way, I went into those tabs with CRAZY high expectations just before writing this. Since I started playing guitar, I can recall a bunch of times I’ve learned and played or at least tried Metallica riffs or solos that have been dubbed hard, but Megadeth, and Rust in Peace especially, always felt like something I’d get to next.

Having said ALL THAT, I don’t think I should go on without mentioning that the past year and a half has been the first time in my life, ever since I started playing a bit as a teen and then stopped for a long time :(, that I’ve actually taken guitar seriously. And by that, I mean not just practicing and learning to play songs and getting to understand the instrument itself, but more so learning the theory behind what I’m really doing, different scales (and what the HELL are even those things, right?), techniques, and the songwriting process. Going back to the album nowadays, I’d say this has also changed the way I engage with it outside of the fan mindset and, more importantly, what I focus on.

PICKING APART THE tornado

Okay, so I’m gonna go a bit more into detail about my “crowded” point from earlier. The first song I ever heard from this album was “Holy Wars… The Punishment Due.” And the first time I heard the main riff, it really confused me, to be honest. The rhythm playing was so fast and complicated that it kinda felt like lead playing to me. But now I can say that most of that feeling comes from the palm-muted open E string. There isn’t actually that much time between the main notes, but when Dave fills even those little gaps with palm-muted open E’s, the riff itself becomes huge. It can pretty much carry the whole song on its own.

But this is Rust in Peace, so of course, that’s just the rhythm part.

Then there’s that transition into “The Punishment Due,” a slower but HEAVIER section, around the 2:26 mark, which has always given me the same kind of vibe as Queen’s “Innuendo.” I guess they both have this flamenco-ish, but also sensitive sound to them that connects two very different feeling sections, with one being a Spanish guitar lead and the other more of an acoustic bridge by Friedman.

And speaking of Friedman, this is actually one of those songs where I prefer Dave’s solo. It has this raw, almost industrial energy to it, and it’s so ridiculously fast and aggressive that it takes the whole song to its peak. It doesn’t feel like a break from everything happening before it, but more like all that energy finally exploding. And apparently, his picking technique has a lot to do with it, too. He keeps his picking hand in a tight, closed fist, with the pick held almost perpendicular to the strings. It almost sounds like he’s pushing the rhythm to its limit without actually losing it. And not to toot Dave’s horn, but isn’t that what thrash, especially in that era, is all about?

But then there’s Marty Friedman, who somehow manages to sound just as insane in a completely different way. I would call his playing unpredictably predictable (that’s a compliment). Where Dave’s playing feels like it’s about to burst out of the song, Marty takes you somewhere you didn’t even know the song could go.

OF COURSE, I’m gonna mention the “Tornado of Souls” solo here. I’ve been walking around the topic, but this whole idea of me writing a Rust in Peace album review mostly stems from this solo. I mean, people are STILL calling it the best metal solo of all time. Although I’ve seen some Necrophagist/technical death metal fans putting it down (?). And with so much of today’s metal scene and guitar playing revolving around technicality, complexity, and allat, the fact that this solo is still part of that conversation is admirable, to say the least.

But what gets me the most is how much emotion he manages to squeeze into SO many notes. Yeah, I get it, technicality is something to be proud of, but that’s not the only thing that makes a solo admirable. I can kinda hear where the melody is heading, but I can never quite guess how he’s gonna get there. For example, the solo opens with this dissonant-sounding A♯on the 3rd fret of the G string, which he immediately starts bending around. It creates tension right away, and he keeps playing with that feeling throughout the first section of the solo. He’ll throw in a note that sounds completely out of left field, and somehow, a few notes later, with pinch harmonics and more chromatic bends, it all makes sense.

Okay, I started acting like a bit of a music snob right there, but I said I MOSTLY won’t go into the technical stuff in the blog, so sue me. But seriously, watching someone break down this solo made me appreciate it in a completely different way. I mostly wanna talk about what it makes ME feel, and now that I’m looking over the notes I made while listening to this part, I can only say I sound like a dweeb, but it is what it is.

I wrote that, from the very beginning, the guitar sounds like someone complaining and not knowing what to do next. Kinda like, “I did this, it didn’t work. I did that, and it didn’t work either.” Especially in that minor arpeggio section that the guy in the video talks about. The repeated phrasing kinda adds to that feeling, like someone going over the same problem again and again. But towards the end, it turns into this almost crazy sense of satisfaction. I swear this solo cannot just express emotions in a normal way :).

I talked about Mustaine, I talked about Friedman, but what I haven’t done yet is talk about this masterpiece of a song where they get to show their differences in this sort of call-and-response type solo-fest that is Hangar 18. I wanna say this right away, Hangar 18 is my favourite song on the album, and in a weird way, it always has been. Right from the beginning, there’s that harmonized guitar main melody, which has this eerie sense of adventure to it. Like, it makes the most sense in a song about aliens, UFOs, and secret military bases. You’re like, yep, I’m coming along for the adventure. I love me a concept song, and with all the shenanigans going on, this song holds a special place in my heart.

This song has 11 guitar solos in total, which I would consider A LOT. But they don’t feel like random improvisations that are detached from each other, even though the last five are played by Marty and Dave one after another. I went into this song in (!) investigative mode and challenged myself to find out who plays what, cuz I’d never done that before and had always listened to it from an enjoyer’s perspective. And lemme tell you, I could actually tell which ones were which, surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly. For me, if it leans a bit more into the melody and has those weird bends that I mentioned before in Tornado of Souls, it’s Friedman, and if it’s just this powerhouse of a thrashy solo, it’s Mustaine. And at some point, I kinda stopped caring whether I got every single one right, cuz the song just keeps throwing solos at you. You think you’ve heard the last of it, and NOPE, here comes another one. Instead of getting tired of it, you just sit there waiting to see what comes next.

eVERYTHING IS FINE. LAUNCH THE POLARIS.

24 June 2024, Oberhausen (I took this photo from the front row, and fun fact: my dad passed out at this concert :0)

Why does the end of the world sound so damn good?

One thing I absolutely love about this album is how it pulls you into its own little world, and what a weird world it is. Go listen to Holy Wars and its commentary that is STILL relevant today, hang out with the witches in Lucretia, go down the alien rabbit hole in Hangar 18, and when you’re done with all that, LAUNCH THE POLARIS.

I think everyone needs to have an 80s/90s thrash metal era at least once in their life. I don’t make the rules. And if you haven’t had yours yet, Rust in Peace is one hell of a place to start. I personally love me an album that gets a little political, and if there’s one thing Dave Mustaine is gonna do, it’s have something to say about the government. So go on, enjoy the riffs, question a few things, and dive headfirst into Mustaine’s whole “I hate the government” (that joke) universe. I promise there’s A LOT to unpack here. And even more to headbang to.

And if you need me, I’ll be somewhere between questioning and trying to learn another Marty Friedman solo.