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Track 1 - Holy Wars... Punishment Due (6:36):

  The opening to the album is nothing but over a minute of pure thrash instrumentals, an unusual structure for a song. A strong but catchy guitar riff opens the scene, Mustaine's trademark soon to be followed by the drums and bass. Though everything is fast and heavy, it's only after Marty's higher pitched guitar phrases to the guitarwork that the listener knows that they're now up to something. Dave later enters with his vocals which take into account the topic of The Troubles, Northern Ireland's political and nationalistic conflict in the late 20th century. Sections such as "Killing for religion... something I don't understand" or "Don't look now to Israel... it might be your homelands" mark the first part of this song, the Holy Wars...

    The second section, around the two and half minute mark, starts with a bridge by Marty which resembles an acoustic guitar with a spanish flavor, introducing a slow and heavy section... The Punishment Due. This is where Dave's vocals are accentuated, backed up by a Groove Metal-like riff in which the song becomes more melodic, both on the vocals and instrumentals. Everything is now clearer, especially the lyrics, where the war scene is better explained. Unforgettable sections includes the lines: "Some people risk to employ me. Some people live to destroy me. Either way they die, they die", which make the bridge for what the listener expects to be the guitar solo. Though Marty's solo does come into scene, it is only the tip of the iceberg. With many arpeggios and a moderation on his shred, not an easy task, Friedman does it concise and straightforward. Yet again with heavy and slower riffs, Dave comes back with his vocals that gives the final call to the two last solos of the song. Once more, Marty does an extremely incisive solo, slowing the down the whole piece before it can become fast again as a bridge to Mustaine's paradoxical solo; being disturbing and appealing at the same time. When this surprising section comes, where none could expect another solo, Mustaine begins with chaotic high pitch bends and aggressive phrasings, which scare the frightened away with the final call for the true metalheads. Finally, the main riff returns with Dave's last words, Marty's final melodic lead sections, David's consistent backups and Nick's loud rhythms to wrap Megadeth's historical triumph as the opening track of Rust In Peace.

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Track 2 - Hangar 18 (5:14):

    Speaking of Megadeth's historical triumphs, Hangar 18 is yet another of them. Like Holy Wars… Punishment Due, the scene starts with instrumentals, a full minute in fact, though this time with a much stronger presence on David's bass guitar. Proving to be innovative and ahead of their time once again, the progressive vibe of the thrash album remains. Marty assumes his role of lead guitarist again and gives a main theme to the song at around 50 seconds, right after a turn made by the stringed instruments. Atypically, Mustaine now sings about a subject coming from someone else's mind, the lyrics inspired by Nick Menza regarding an UFO conspiracy theory at an Air Force base, thus the name Hangar 18 and the location on the album's cover.

    It is important to keep in mind the spotlight of the song: though the bass timbre is a great highlight, lyrics iconic to the band's repertoire, and drums consistent all through the album, it is actually the guitar duet that brings Hangar 18 to life. There are many recurring lead guitar parts, including a couple of solos, while the main theme is consistently hammered inside the listener's brain throughout the whole track, which causes you to either love or hate it. The memorable moment of Dave's singing is when the line "Military Intelligence, two words combined that can't make sense" is said, to be later followed up by yet another progressive section, serving as a bridge for the solos.

For any guitar aficionado  of the genre, listening to this piece is like finding gold inside a hidden cave only to realize the gold pales in comparison to all the diamonds you are yet to see. This is no overstatement, even later proved to be true by the sequel Return to Hangar. Unfortunately (or not), being a guitar fest from start to finish, it's hard to put well into words for this review other than the simplest, greatest advice that can be given: just listen to it.

 

Track 3 - Take No Prisoners (3:28):

    Coincidently or not, Hangar 18 is followed by a song completely opposite to it, a short song that has its spotlight on the newly added vocals from the "people". The dirty guitar tone and fast-paced riffs characterize the introduction, though the words Dave exchanges with these people's hoarse voiced orders are what brings the soul to it, taking over the scenario and giving a new taste of something we haven't heard before. The instrumentals later return after the summoning of "Burn", practically bringing two verses in a row. On this second one, the twist of John F. Kennedy's famous inaugural speech is twisted, going from the original "Ask not, what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country," to "Don't ask what you can do for your country — ask what your country can do for you." With no solo, this song ends quickly on the repeating lines, "Take no prisoners, take no shit!"

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Track 4 - Five Magics (5:42):

    Yet another song with a powerful opening, Five Magics presents a brief and intense rhythm mainly coming from the drums and guitars, before David's bass line enters as a temporary frontman, establishing the foundation of the song for the upcoming two minutes of pure instrumentals. Together with the pulsating bass of the drums, the timbre of Ellefson's guitar in this song is simply spectacular, as tough as a diamond but with the adhesiveness that the instrument requires to pull all the other ones together. Afterwards, Marty takes the spotlight with his solo right before the lyrics’s most memorable moment, where Dave fully embodies the character of the story, a man under oppressive treatment who learns five magics to defeat his ruler. In this section, the instruments slow down and become heavier to fully back up the vocals, with the requests:  “Give me alchemy, give me wizardry, give sorcery, thermatology, electricity, magic if you please, master all of these, bring them to his knees.” This is where the story becomes more comprehensible, where we learn that this man—who has just mastered the Five Magics—will soon face the Abyss Lord, engaging in the final dialogue between the tortured adventurer and the hellish voice, repeating everything he says with obscurity, anticipating the conclusion of another of Dave’s dystopian solos.

 

Track 5 - Poison Was The Cure (2:58):

    Given another chance to shine, the bass guitar now opens the song for the electric with quite a lot of mystery, soon to present us what this poison is about. This track appears slow, where it gets steadier with the addition of the guitar, up until the added pace of the drums and what sounds like a speeding race car going through your ears. Suddenly, it feels like there is a new person in this story, almost as if they had just gotten into some kind of drug influence; but exactly what it is about! Though nothing can be understood from the lyrics, it is possible to catch some words here and there, such as the occasional “poison fangs”, “blood”, “veins” or “shadow”, until the final understandable phrase comes in the form of “Taste me!”. This sets up the conclusion of the story, where it is up to the listener to interpret the feelings absorbed from adrenaline of Dave’s drug abuse, shaped as a guitar solo. The unsteady bends and fast picking of arpeggios are basically the best ways to describe heroin without even trying it, the so called Poison Was The Cure.

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Track 6 - Lucretia (3:58):

    Ha ha ha ha ha… and the iconic crackling laughter starts. This is not something you could foresee, but here Lucretia comes… The intricate flow is quite curious, yet slightly disturbing as the guitars stick out way too much and the bass goes even deeper in this wicked scenario. Together with the surging vocals, David finds a way to give those bass lovers something to pay close attention on the verse, which can sound standard with the power chord guitar riff up until it is interrupted due to those sticky lead guitar peaks. There is a kind of pleasure that goes with hearing the verse once again, well-crafted instrumentals in which the singing is now mixed with occasional higher-pitched spikes. A showmanship of melodic mastery is featured once again from the first guitar solo,  which the feel—not the speed—makes hard to replicate. For reasons I’m not allowed to state yet, I’ll just stick to the phrase that, though ridiculously well-crafted, this is not Marty’s best solo of the album.

    Next up is Dave’s solo, but because the guitar tones are similar, the optimal way to recognize it is by his musical personality, the return of his chaotic bends. Something very atypical happens midway through it, though: a slide coming up from thick E string, to blend in with the faster phrases that gradually escalate with the high-pitched sections. Finally it returns to a steadier phrase, putting an end to this classic.     

 

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Track 7 - Tornado Of Souls (5:22):

    Speaking of classics, it’s hard to imagine Megadeth without this classic piece, where Friedman gives himself a challenge as if he hadn’t proved himself yet. Starting with an unusual palm-muted natural harmonics riff, Tornado of Souls has a strong intro and is probably the most “chorusy” song out of the album. I say this because, in a way, this song is very formulaic when compared with all the others. It is clear that the sequence is: introduction, verse, chorus, verse and chorus, with verses having a rhyming scheme of AABBCC.Nevertheless, the instrumentals are fantastic and, as expected, David comes back with rock solid bass sound, where all the integrants gather around to break a little bit of the formula with a bridge. This bridge consists of a change in pace, mainly of the guitars and drums backing up the chants of Dave’s vocals, because “Who’s to say what’s for me to do?” Though the guitarwork is unforgettable, Tornado of Souls also features Nick Menza’s seconds of spotlight with his drum fill presenting what is probably the song’s most iconic guitar riff. Next, some final words are prepared for the guitar solo’s bridge, with consistent cohesion of the guitars and rhythmic drumming for a full 20 seconds, imagining what kind of thing lies behind such long and steady preparation...

 

    THE Solo: Now, when a whole new section is created to describe one part of a track, you know there’s something special. You might be turned off by many aspects of Megadeth, limited singing, decreasing quality throughout the years, too fast, too heavy, too loud, whatever your whining is, you might even be right, however, there is one thing that can’t be denied: the solo to Tornado of Souls is, if not the best, one of the top guitar solos ever composed in the history of metal. Therefore, let's set up the scene for it:

 

    You have to rob a bank without anyone around you even noticing, and to pull it off, everything has to meticulously perfect. It’s rush hour the capital city’s main bank, and the situation around you appears unfavorable. You are alone, but your backup knowledge throughout your life experiences teaches you the secrets of human interaction to get you past the security guards without any suspicion and camouflage amongst the constant movement around you. You also figure out the surveillance camera’s blind spots with your sharp sights, only with a quick glance of each eye, knowing its limitations and perceiving the best time to hack into the vault’s room. Using people around you as your distraction tools, you provoke the shortest fused man on the opposite corner with the slightest of bumps and vanishes between the mix, causing him thirst for vengeance on becoming the alpha male of the field. When perceiving such threat, everyone is shocked by this crazy person and things seem to slow down around him. Meanwhile, with unreal technique, it doesn’t take long to open this high security system where you can get one of the officer’s access card and use some kind of mystique to break the code. Almost as if a rewind button was suddenly pressed, you count the seconds in your head of how much time you have left to assemble as much gold as is human possible to carry in your bags. Finally, you speed out smoothly and elegantly when the situation is resetting back to normal, and to the outside eyes, leaving the place as if no one was ever there...  

 

The rush hour in the capital is the steady beat to of drums and guitars on the bridge, the best setup you can get to pull off such move...

The unfavorable situation is the expectation and pressure put around you to perform, as a rookie of the established band you’re now a part of...

Your backup knowledge and your life experiences are your participations in bands such as Cacophony, with legends like Jason Becker, and your solo guitar album...

Your camouflage is your initial bends and slides, which harmonizes perfectly with the other fast paced instruments, symbolized by the convulsion around you...

Your sharp sight to catch the surveillance camera’s blind spots quickly are your precise left hand techniques while the calculation for the best time to hack the vaults room’s door and all the tries around it are the strategies and the speed you can execute around them to get to that final bend of the quick phrasing...

The people around you and the distraction you’ve now created for the security guards are the buildup you create for the arpeggios, with superb expectation for something unbelievable...

The man and all the attention he gets in the scene, where everything that was loud, soon begins to slow down, is the pre-arpeggio section, where time seems to move slower due to everyone’s shock...

The rapid stealing of the officer’s card represents the fast arpeggios and the speedy and aggressive phrasing symbolizes the mysteriousness of a doing of the level of breaking the code...

The assembly of gold in such limited time and space is your backwards shredding through the solo, as if you’re going back to the lower pitched place you once were in the beginning and fitting as many notes as you can without losing its perfection…

The speed out of the scene, smoothly and elegantly, is how you manage to close out the solo, with error-free moves and unteachable mastery...

 

The whole mystique around you and the breaking of this code symbolizes some weird kind of trend around this solo, where no one can quite play it exactly like you...

And you my friend, YOU ARE MARTY FRIEDMAN!

 

    Unfortunately, we do have to get back to the real world because this masterpiece has to be concluded… however, the instrumentals do not disappoint. Specifically with the last guitar riffs, and the drumming combination of snare drums and the cymbal’s bell mashing up nicely with the final lyrics: “The kiss of death”.  

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Track 8 - Dawn Patrol (1:50):

​     Is there anything that can distribute as much power as Marty Friedman’s greatest creation? Well, the sincere answer is no, but Dawn Patrol is a pretty badass song, working as interlude between Tornado of Souls and the last track of the album. This interlude is pretty much composed of David Ellefson’s mixture of a robust bass line, and the specific sound he can get out of it by playing with a pick. This is also not one of Megadeth’s usual songs, especially in this album. First of all, it’s very short. Secondly, there are no electric guitars; the rhythm is mainly composed by the bass guitar and some basic drums playing. Finally, Dave has a totally different voice input, completing the slow and consistent darkness that characterizes the interlude…

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Track 9 - Rust In Peace... Polaris (5:36):

​​     Adding an amazing solo performance at the intro of Rust In Peace… Polaris. The drums-only beginning makes sure that you have the right pace going on in your mind to enjoy the performance. Fiercely powerful distorted guitars come in once again, setting up another epic thrash metal riff. Not much breath is given until the melody enters, with rapid lead guitar, and this is how you know you’re up for the grand finale. Fast paced singing and riffs are a constant pattern all around, and though there isn’t a guitar solo anywhere to be found, the fast lead guitar lines make it an adequate song to listen to while speeding up on a highway with no limits, until… Polaris! The song seems to have hit its end, and the nuclear missile, the inspiration of the lyrics for the song, seems to have finished its job, when everything fades back with a vigorous riff, something so intense that there’s nothing like it in any other metal song at the time, probably the best way to conclude a story once called Rust In Peace…

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Overall: 

 

Pros:

-Hot-blooded instrumental introductions, no exceptions

-Conclusive outros, giving a period to every episode  

-Unbelievable riffs back to back with unconventional structures

-Solos without a break, being perfectly balanced between speed and harmony

-Weirdly structured songs, making it hard ever get bored of them since each has their own unique taste

-Multiple songs with multiple personalities, notable examples being Holy Wars… Punishment Due, Five Magics and Rust in Peace… Polaris

-Controlled chaos everywhere, precisely in Poison Was The Cure

-Guitarwork that sticks out, specifically in Lucretia and Tornado of Souls riffs

-Amazing bass lines, timbre and groove on most songs, most iconic in Dawn Patrol, Poison Was The Cure and Hangar 18

-Drums that are clear and on point in every single song, but most specifically sticks out in faster paced songs such as Poison Was The Cure and Rust In Peace… Polaris

-Well regulated vocals, knowing the right time to come in and go out, with shining moments in Lucretia

-New features added to vocals, such as in Dawn Patrol, Take No Prisoners and Lucretia

-Iconic lyrics, especially in Take No Prisoners and Hangar 18

-THE Solo

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Cons:

-Some songs such as Holy Wars… Punishment Due  lacks more presence of the bass guitar

-Vocal limitations remains as Megadeth’s biggest weakest point

-Though all songs follow the Rust In Peace trademark and its theme, it does sometimes feel like the album is a collection of amazing singles mashed up on a 40 minute album

 

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A huge treasure for instrumentally-minded and nothing but the prime coming out from every member of the band, a legacy to be remained in the history of metal...