Rust in Peace

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Rust in Peace is an album by Megadeth. It was released by Capitol Records in 1990 (see 1990 in music). The album is considered by many to be a thrash metal classic. Along with Metallica's Master of Puppets and Slayer's Reign in Blood, Rust in Peace is one of the most critically lauded thrash metal albums. Many Megadeth fans consider it to represent the high-point in the band's career. The album's name comes from a sticker Dave Mustaine, the band's headsman saw on a vehicle once. From an interview with Dave Mustaine:

"I was driving home from Elsanon... um, Lake Elsanon. I was tailgating somebody, racing down the freeway, and I saw this bumper sticker on their car and it said... you know, this tongue in cheek stuff like, 'One nuclear bomb could ruin your whole day,' and then I looked on the other side and it said, 'May all your nuclear weapons rust in peace,' and I'm goin', ''Rust in Peace.' Damn, that's a good title.' And I'm thinkin' like, 'What do they mean, rust in peace?' I could just see it now - all these warheads sittin' there, stockpiled somewhere like seal beach, you know, all covered with rust 'n' stuff with kids out there spray-painting the stuff, you know."

Contents

1 Historical significance
2 Track listing
3 Personnel
4 Track listing
5 Remastered
6 External links

Historical significance

Rust in Peace was the first Megadeth album from the Mustaine / Ellefson / Menza / Friedman line-up. This line-up would see the band through most of the 1990s.

The album's popularity amongst its fan base is due in part to a combination of Mustaine's often political lyrics, Menza's drumming, and the guitar solos of Marty Friedman. Friedman's technical ability is shown through difficult-to-play songs like "Hangar 18" and "Tornado of Souls".

Track listing

"Holy Wars... The Punishment Due" – 6:32
"Hangar 18" – 5:11
"Take No Prisoners" – 3:26
"Five Magics" – 5:39
"Poison Was the Cure" – 2:56
"Lucretia" – 3:56
"Tornado of Souls" – 5:19
"Dawn Patrol" – 1:51
"Rust in Peace... Polaris" – 5:44
"My Creation" – 1:36 *
"Rust in Peace... Polaris" (demo) – 5:25 *
"Holy Wars... The Punishment Due" (demo) – 6:16 *
"Take No Prisoners" (demo) – 3:23 *

:* bonus tracks on 2004 re-release featuring Chris Poland on lead guitars

Personnel

Dave Mustaine - lead & rhythm guitar, lead vocals
Marty Friedman - lead, rhythm & acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Nick Menza - drums, backing vocals
David Ellefson - bass guitars, backing vocals
Ed Repka - Cover artwork

Track listing

"Holy Wars" deals with the ongoing sectarian violence in Northern Ireland (despite common misconceptions that it refers to Israel, [contradicted by Mustaine]). The song, after a bridge, becomes "The Punishment Due", a track about the comic book The Punisher (which Mustaine claims to have stopped reading due to the commercialization of the character).

"Hangar 18", a song inspired by UFO conspiracy theories, has a chordal structure in D minor also used by Metallica, in "The Call of Ktulu", from Ride the Lightning, which was partially written by Dave Mustaine while he still was a member of Metallica. Friedman claims that the original version of the song was much longer than what appears on the album.

"Take No Prisoners" deals with prisoners of war and the plight of soldiers who return from war with crippling injuries.

"Five Magics" is about a man who seeks mastery of five arcane practices to overthrow an evil ruler.

"Poison Was The Cure" is about Mustaine's addiction to heroin; the title could also refer to the use of methadone to treat heroin addiction, since it can become addictive as well.

"Lucretia" is about a ghost that Mustaine visits in his attic. The song does not reference the Lucretia of Roman mythology.

"Tornado of Souls" is about a failed relationship.

"Dawn Patrol" is about life after an environmental disaster, possibly nuclear winter. The song is a departure from the others on the album in that it consists of bass and drums with no guitar, and Dave speaks the lyrics with an odd quasi-British accent.

"Rust in Peace...Polaris" is about intercontinental ballistic missiles. The title came from a bumper sticker which Mustaine saw while driving.

Much of the above info is from [this site].

Remastered

In 2002, Mustaine remastered the debut Megadeth album, Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!, including three extra bonus tracks and a new album cover completely different from the original. Inspired by the positive outcome of the re-release, he worked to remaster all of the subsequent Megadeth albums which had been recorded with Capitol Records (up to 1999's Risk).

Rust in Peace was re-released in 2004 with a new sound and four new bonus tracks. During the audio mixing process, Mustaine found that the original lead vocal tracks for "Take No Prisoners", "Five Magics" and "Lucretia" were missing - he had no choice but to re-record the vocals on "Take No Prisoners" and use alternate takes for "Lucretia" and "Five Magics".

External links

[Holy Wars Riff] Video showing how to play opening riff of Holy Wars, leadoff track on Rust in Peace.

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