Megadeth Peace Sells...But Who's Buying Album Review

Megadeth – Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? (1986)

Members:

Guitar, Vocals: Dave Mustaine

Guitar: Chris Poland

Bass: David Ellefson

Drums: Gar Samuelson (R.I.P.)

Factoids:

“Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?” is the 2nd studio album by American thrash metal band, Megadeth. Although, initially handled by Combat Records who released Megadeth’s debut album, “Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good!” a year prior, the album was released by Capitol Records in November 1986. Produced by Randy Burns and Dave Mustaine, “Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?” received critical acclaim and praise from fans and critics as well help put Megadeth on the map.

PSBWB has been regarded as a milestone and a masterpiece of the American thrash metal movement and an instant and mandatory metal classic. ”Peace Sells” along with Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” and Slayer’s “Reign in Blood” all of which were released in 1986 are considered pivotal in giving prominence to extreme metal.

This is the 2nd and last album to feature Chris Poland on guitar and Gar Samuelson (R.I.P.) on drums who were both let go not long afterwards for selling megadeth gear for crack money. This was the first incarnation of Megadeth.

Review:

This album is another of those watershed albums for the genre. I feel that by in large it is primarily responsible for the mass recognition of more extreme styles of metal thanks in part to heavy rotation on MTV with the videos for "Wake Up Dead" and the title track "Peace Sells", the later having that famous "This is the news" part that even made its way into a few station ads. Megadeth as a whole are a unique breed of band since they were formed out of Dave's firing from Metallica, and in all honesty, I always preferred Megadeth over Metallica. But we aren't here to compare bands, so let's break this beast out and see what it's made of....Let's Do This!!!

The album kicks off with the mega-classic known as “Wake Up Dead” which is, to this day, a staple in the band’s live performances. An absolute classic piece of thrash featuring some of the best and classic Mustaine riffs to date. It also features blistering solos by Mustaine and Chris Poland.

“The Conjuring” follows and it’s ultra-heavy, furiously dark, and devilishly evil. Another song that showcases Mustaine’s brilliance of writing fast, extremely heavy, intricate thrash metal riffs.

It’s then followed by one of Megadeth’s most famous songs “Peace Sells,” a fan favourite and an all time metal classic.  The song begins with a thumping bass line from David Ellefson, which was part of MTV News broadcasts for many years. Not the fastest song of the bunch but nonetheless intelligent, thoughtful, heavy, and catchy as hell – a headbanger’s delight.

“Devil’s Island” opens with a monstrous dark banging riff that is soon accompanied by a ripping guitar lead from Dave Mustaine. Right before the song kicks into its verses, Ellefson delivers a short bass interlude. The song rips hard, the song rips fast, the song makes you want to bang your head hard and furiously. You can’t help but scream along to the choruses. More fast, intricate, headbanging, mouth-watering Mustaine riffs in this one with great guitar leads from Mustaine and Poland.

Then what follows is the fan favourite “Good Mourning/Black Friday” which in my opinion really showcases the talents of both Chris Poland and Gar Samuelson. The album is known for its “twists and turns” as Anthrax’s Scott Ian put it. The song starts off with the “Good Mourning” portion of the song, slow and soft but still really dark. This part showcases the guitar chops of the talented Chris Poland. “Good Mourning” ends and goes right into a maniacal thrash assault with “Black Friday,” once again the intricate rhythms written by Mustaine on full display. What also is on full display is the phenomenal drum work by Gar Samuelson and his brutality laced jazzy drum fills.

Then the listener is hit with “Bad Omen,” another banger. The song slowly but surely builds into a thrash bombardment of epic proportions. David Ellefson’s pounding bass line combined with the brilliantly talented drum work of Gar Samuelson and the ferocious complexed guitar work of Mustaine and Poland gives way to a lesson in technical musical theatre. And before you know it, the band is going mach 10 and the listener is doing some serious damage to his or her’s neck.

Next is a cover of Willie Dixon’s “I Ain’t Superstitious” which is a blues song but done the ‘Megadeth’ way. Considering that Megadeth were “a jazz band that played metal” to a lot of people and that guitarist Chris Poland and drummer Gar Samuelson both were jazz musicians, the cover really isn’t that much of a shock. It actually makes a lot of sense. All of the solos in the song were performed by Chris Poland who definitely felt a lot more in his comfort zone I would imagine. And the same for the Gar too. For much of the song it is what is, a blues song done by Megadeth… and I am not saying that in a bad way either.  The final minute of the song goes into a speed metal frenzy, a frantic rush to the finish.

And the last song on this epic masterpiece is “My Last Words,” which in my opinion is one of the most underrated Megadeth songs. The fabulous bass playing from David Ellefson really shines through in this song as does the work of Samuelson behind the drum kit, the rhythm section really on full display. The song near the end really picks up its intensity and before you know it, Dave Mustaine unleashes one of his all time best face-melting, blistering guitar solos over a side-splitting speed metal riff.

This is a masterwork of (thrash) metal. Indeed, an all-time classic and one of the all time greatest records to ever see the light of day. Influential beyond belief, a timeless and unforgettable work of utter brilliance. And it was an album written and recorded by heroin junkies, go figure huh? They managed to craft a technical masterpiece that has influenced an entire generation and a lot of metal acts today. The album ended the way it started – guns blazing. The album without a doubt stands at the top of essential metal albums and to this day, over 30 years after its release, still has an impact on its listeners. The album is timeless, the album is classic, the album is a must listen, the album is a must have, the album simply will never get old.

This was the first Megadeth album that I ever got and looking back I would have never thought it would have had such a major influence on me as it does and has. “Peace Sells”  not only was it one of the reasons why I picked up the guitar myself but it’s one of the reasons why I dove into the whole Megadeth catalog. This album changed my life, it really did. Megadeth is one of my favorite bands. I own all of their albums and I have listened to all of them countless times over the years. I can recite practically any lyrics from any song and that’s not an exaggeration either. In retrospect, if I didn’t receive “Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?” when I was 16 years old, Megadeth wouldn’t even be in discussion for my favorite band list. PSBWB changed my life… I probably would be a completely different person without this album and the band.

You’re not a fan of metal or thrash metal if you haven’t listen to this album. If you wanna start getting into metal, “Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?” should be one of the first places to start.

Score: 5/5