Countdown To Extinction - Megadeth

...a guitarist myself). I bought countdown to extinction a long long time ago during a trip to Paris in the Virgin Megastore of the "Champ Elysees". I had the tape in my walkman long before then, so I can definitely say that this album followed me for many many years. I didn't know any other album of Megadeth until recently, when I decided to get them one by one.

MEGADETH, WHO THE HELL ARE THEY???
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...by the way.
On Countdown to extinction, the musicians are:

Dave Mustaine - vocals, guitars
David Ellefson - bass, backup vocals
Marty Friedman - guitars, backup vocals
Nick Menza - drums, backup vocals




WHAT DO THEY SOUND LIKE???
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Lots of noise as some of you pagans might say. However, Megadeth are the creators of what ... more

BACKGROUND
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As Most of you probably know by now, I am a metalhead. I just love aggressive music, but most of all, bands showing great musicianship (as a guitarist myself). I bought countdown to extinction a long long time ago during a trip to Paris in the Virgin Megastore of the "Champ Elysees". I had the tape in my walkman long before then, so I can definitely say that this album followed me for many many years. I didn't know any other album of Megadeth until recently, when I decided to get them one by one.

MEGADETH, WHO THE HELL ARE THEY???
****************************************************
Megadeth is Dave Mustaine's baby. For those who don't know Dave Mustaine, he is one of the former guitarists of Metallica, but after being kicked out of the band because of his various addictions (booze, and various coctails of drugs), he decided to create Megadeth, answer to Metallica's rejection.
They are American, by the way.
On Countdown to extinction, the musicians are:

Dave Mustaine - vocals, guitars
David Ellefson - bass, backup vocals
Marty Friedman - guitars, backup vocals
Nick Menza - drums, backup vocals

WHAT DO THEY SOUND LIKE???
*********************************
Lots of noise as some of you pagans might say. However, Megadeth are the creators of what is called the speed metal: very fast and technical hard rock.
Dave Mustaine's voice is very particular, and lots of my friends are not fans of Megadeth because of it. I personally love it, it sounds evil; however it is not guttural at all, it is rather high, but rough…In the end, Dave doesn't shout much; he mostly sings, with his particular voice...

BLAH BLAH BLAH… STICKS TO THE GODDAMN ALBUM, YOU MUPPET!
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The album was produced by Max Norman and Dave Mustaine, and released in 1992. It reached #2 on US Billboard charts and was certified double Platinum in 1994.
It lasts 47min 26s for the original version (11 songs), and 55min 31s for the Japanese version (with 2 more songs).
Here are the songs:

1.Skin O' My Teeth:
Great drums intro, before a really cool electric guitar riff, quite technical. Dave shows here great composition skills… The guitar solo is played by Martin Friedman, who plays shred-like solos on this album. This song is about Dave's suicide attempts, . It got Megadeth into trouble with MTV at the time, because they thought it was promoting suicide… Dave said: This is a song about how many times I tried to kill myself and just couldn't get the fucking job done. This is 'Skin O'My Teeth!'

2.Symphony of Destruction
Probably one of the anthems of metal. Everybody heard this song at least once. It was the single of the album.
The song starts with this heavy riff, cut by silences… Heavy bass in the background, supporting Dave's evil voice. Then comes the melodic chorus. The solo is played by Martin again. Not a super fast solo, but very melodic, Martin going up and down the scales…
This song is very political, criticising the men in power. Calling them puppets.

3.Architecture of Aggression
Machine gun shots open the song, before the heavy guitar arrives… A great riff, very heavy song. You can't escape the urge of headbanging on that one. Pure genius. I love this song. There are 2 great solos by Martin in this song.
This title is about the Iraq war (in 1991, obviously).

4.Foreclosure of a Dream
Melodic acoustic guitars open this title, which is a slow tune. However, during the chorus, it speeds up a bit, and the electricity kicks in too.
This song is about a guy who lost his farm. A social move from Megadeth… That's basically what happened to the family of David Ellefson (bass), under Reagan's administration. 2 solos again, one by Dave, and one by Martin.

5.Sweating Bullets
An evil sounding riff opens the song, which is about schizophrenia. The rhythm is quite unusual for a metal band on the chorus, it is quite influenced by jazz. The lyrics are cool, that's the bad side of a guy talking to him, basically… "hello me, meet the real me".
The solo here is played by Dave. It is a really cool solo. I love his style.

6.This Was My Life
A song about one of Dave's relationships… when he felt like killing is ex… "it is a confession of the madness he felt at the time". A heavy title, but melodic on the chorus.
The guitar solo is played by Dave again.
Then there is a cool riff before finishing the song.

7.Countdown to Extinction
This song is about endangered species, and people hunting. It is an idea of Nick.
It is not a really heavy song it is pretty slow, but there are still electric guitars on it. In the middle, there is a quiet break with a female voice.
No real solo here. Just some sort of riff played by both guitarists.

8.High Speed Dirt
One of my favourite titles on this album. A fast title, really cool vocals. It is about skydiving (one of the band's hobbies). Actually it is about a jump which goes wrong. Martin was the only member not into that sort of extreme sports. He said he'd jump if the album went platinum, and unfortunately for him, it went double platinum; apparently a special program on MTV was made to shoot the event.
This song has several solos played by Dave and Martin, with a cool bluesy break in clear sound in the middle by Martin.

9.Psychotron
This song is inspired by an American comics, but also by the use of brainwashing machine used by the Russians in the past. A heavy tunes again, cut by many short solos played by Martin.

10.Captive Honour
Another cool song I really like this one. It is a critic about the jail system.
A very melodic start, before the heaviness. A slow but heavy tune. I really like the lyrics here. There are some cool lines such as:
"And when you kill a man, you're a murderer
Kill many, and you're a conqueror
Kill them all... Ooh... Oh you're a god!"
A great song, also one of my favourite definitely. There are 2 solos by Mustaine, and one by Friedman in this song.

11.Ashes in Your Mouth
The last song of the "normal" release.
This song is about war too. Another heavy tune, however, not amongst my favourites.
2 solos by Martin, 1 by Dave.

12.Breakpoint
This title is also on Megadeth's B-sides album, Hidden Treasures.
This is a political song, a heavy tune as well. Really cool guitar riff.
The solos are played by Martin on this one.

13. Go to Hell
The last but not the least. This song is fantastic. It sounds very evil, and it is evil actually. There are several solos on that one, either played by Dave or Martin. It's like Ping pong, I just love it.
The bass intro sounds cool. David's sound is great. Then the evil guitars arrive with the drums. The video clip is also quite sick, seing Dave's body singing out of a bathtub…
This is also a mockery of Metallica's Enter Sandman, as the prayer appear here as well…
"as I am laying down to sleep, blah blah blah my soul to keep…" sings Dave…

CONCLUSION
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This should be part of the disc collection of any metal fan, as it is a classic. It deserves its double platinium status.

OTHER INFO
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£6.99 or £7.99 according to the version on www.play.com.
Megadeth's official website: www.megadeth.com

Thanks for reading

J

 

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