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Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? by Megadeth
Being a 13 year old girl at a Megadeth concert, surrounded by Metal heads (a metal fan) was awesome. It was the first concert I’ve ever attended, and it opened the doors for me. I felt like I belonged there and it just felt like home. I was with my long extended family. Leaving the outdoor venue was cool too (yeah weird right). People screaming “MEGADETH!” and doing the devil horns with their hands was as cool as watching Megadeth perform (well kind of). Although I knew the day after was going to be so painful like any metal concert, I head banged until I felt numb and screamed the lyrics at the top of my lungs until my voice was gone. It was the best experience I ever had!
As a huge Metal head Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? is an album that is worth gold. Megadeth, a thrash band part of the big 4 (including Metallica, Anthrax and Slayer) released Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? In July 20th, 1986 being their 2nd studio album (following their first which was Killing is My Business ... And Business is Good). This album has everything a thrash metal album needs: speed, slow songs, a mysterious feel, great lyrics that the listener can relate to, and musical quality. Dave Mustaine’s and Chris Poland’s heavy riffs, Gar Samuelson’s amazing drumming, the dark lyrics of Mustaine, and David Ellefson’s astonishing bass mastery makes this album a classic.
Dave Mustaine’s anger is shown in this album with his great lyrics that any raging and rebellious teen could relate to. Dave’s lyrics talk about politics and life stories just put into lyrics and riffs. Listening to this album is like reading a book about Dave Mustaine, his thoughts, his experiences, and his life. Never will you hear Dave Mustaine sing about fairies, and fairytales, so every thrasher (thrash metal fan) appreciates that.
This album is fast, slow, has dark lyrics that the listener can relate to, is psychedelic, heavy, loud, and that the instruments are being used to their fullest potential. For Example, “My Last Words” is very fast and starts off with a very psychedelic acoustic guitar part and then the bass joins in with a great use of the bass by Ellefson. In “My Last Words” Dave Mustaine talks about playing Russian roulette (DO NOT TRY AT HOME) “Place the piston down, Now give the gun a spin soon as the spinning stops, Oh no, the game starts in a hateful way of vengeance, a bit of playful sin, load another bullet, the second round begins, a couple grains of powder, a couple grams of lead, a touch against the trigger, a touch inside the head, take another drink, and raise the last bet, think about my last words, they might be what I just said…You, you, next victim, you next to die. You, you, next victim, you, your turn to die. You, come on, next victim, you, your turn to die. You die!” An example of a slower song would be “Good Mourning/Black” Friday, and this song just has such a dark feel in it that brings in the listener right away.
The instruments are being used outside the box and very creatively (as always) by Megadeth. The rhythm guitar has a darker sound to it while the lead guitar has a higher pitch but still sounds so evil and so mysterious. Both guitars combined sound as creepy as the music played in the background before the victims are killed in a horror movie. The bass has fast bass tabs, which are hard to play because it’s done very skillfully by David Ellefson. And trust me I know, trying to play something on the bass is as hard as running a mile when you’re out of shape. The drumming is also amazing, it’s not too much and not too little, and yet so complex.
This album takes the listener to a different world. Once you put your head phones in or play it in your room and everything around you isn’t the same. Megadeth has the power to take the listener places with their instruments. If you can do that to the listener you know you’ve done a very good job composing music.
Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? Is one of best thrash metal albums of all time and a Megadeth classic, and I have nothing to complain about this album and for that I’m sorry. I would change nothing from this album, everything from Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? is just perfect. Any mad and rebellious adolescent can relate and would be interested to listen to this masterpiece. It’s totally worth investing.
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I would like people to get past the distortion of the guitars and actually accept and respect metal.