Peace Sells...But Who's Buying?

Ah so I wake up in the morning, and then decide to listen to Megadeth. So let's do it folks, Megadeth is on today's menu with their classic album “Peace Sells...But Who's Buying?”. This is one of the culminations of thrash metal and helping to prove that 1986 was the best year for thrash. With the raging dual guitars of Mustaine and Poland (the guy not the country) help to create an amazing powerful sound. The bass of Ellefson is extremely well done and highly enjoyable. It gets several fills that are just mindblowing. The drums done by Samuelson are also excellent. They take standard thrash drumming and throw in a couple awesome fills to make it all work. When the drums are not putting in great fills they are extremely tight. In fact all of the rhythm section is amazingly tight and together on this album.

Both the lead and rhythm guitars are extremely well done. The lead guitar of Poland creates some very nice riffs and fills in with solos that shriek over the rhythm section. In truth one of my favorite things about Poland's guitar playing is that his solos have spectacular bends in them that make the guitar seem a lot more emotional. The rhythm guitar as done by Mustaine is pretty decent and has its own feel that is different than that of both Slayer and Metallica. Mustaine's style is a bit more like Hetfield's however his rhythm parts are less chunky. This allows for greater dominance on the part of Poland. The bass is very solid and the fill at the beginning of Peace Sells is a legendary one. The bass fuses very nicely with the drums to create one of the tightest rhythm sections in thrash. The drums have two roles on this album and they fill them both in perfectly. As a rhythm instrument the drum is spectacular, it stays extremely solid and keeps excellent time. However, at times the drumming is not very creative in it rhythm parts. Fortunately this is counteracted by the awesomeness of the drum fills. In particular the drum fill in Good Mourning is spectacular.

The vocals are also fairly well done. Mustaine's vocals are slightly lighter than the standard thrash growl, but not a lot lighter. It is similar enough so that the thrash feel is not harmed but different enough as to give Megadeth their own unique sound from the vocal side of things. Overall though Mustaine is not a spectacular singer, however he does an excellent job of fitting his limited abilities into the songs so that he sounds awesome. Overall the vocals themselves are pretty good and despite a lack of vocal range from Mustaine he still manages to rock hard and make his vocals work. His lyrics are also extremely good on this album. He typically has lyrics that are like horror stories. For example the song Devil's Island is a creepy song talking about a mans last thoughts before he is killed.

All in all this is a killer album that I am extremely fond of. Their sound is extremely tight and it is extremely clear that all of the band members understand their role in the band. The guitars are btoh awesome. The lead guitar has a lot of wailing solos that simply make my jaw drop. On the other hand the rhythm guitar is extremely well done if not as chunky as it could be. The bass is solid as a rhythm instrument and gets a couple of impressive fills. The drums are chock full of awesome fills which counteract an occasional lack of originality in the rhythm drum department. The vocals are fairly good and Mustaine manages to make his voice sound awesome everywhere. He has horror themed lyrics that really fill the music out. To finish, Peace Sells...But Who's buying is a killer album that any and all metalheads will love.

OVERALL 9.75/10