Monday, July 28, 2014

#294: Megadeath - Peace Sells...But Who's Buying? (1986)


Zack: I liked Peace Sells a lot and I can easily see it slipping alongside Metallica’s Black Album and Ride the Lightning (not on the list but damn good) as something I throw on every once in a while to get pumped. That’s pretty much been the ceiling for any metal album we’ve come across, so you should take that as a ringing endorsement. They’re clearly one of the big four thrash metal bands for a reason. That said, I want to point out that Peace Sells seems to have earned Megadeth a reputation as a metal band that writes socially conscious songs. That’s utter bullshit. Admittedly, I’m only going off one album, but there is only one song on this entire thing that doesn’t have to do with the occult, satanic rituals, or being exiled to Devil’s Island. Maybe the bar is a tad too low when 12.5% of an album needs to have some sort of political message to it and that qualifies as socially conscious.
Favorite Tracks: Good Morning/Black Friday; The Conjuring; My Last Words

Emily: Zack has put this album on our potential listen-to list for a while now, and I never picked it. I'm not exactly sure why, but subconsciously I think the combination of "mega" and "death" indicated music that I didn't exactly want to spend 45 minutes of my life listening to. This time, perhaps influenced by Zack bookending it next to Venom and Slayer, I picked Megadeath for this metal album go-round. Turns out that Megadeath is significantly less scary and obnoxious than their name implies. Yes, it's a thrash metal album through and through. However, the music is melodious and the singing is actually singing (rather than glorified screaming). Peace Sells moves swiftly and caught my ear, even as a non-metal fan. I doubt I'll add it in to my rotation of music, but it wasn't the worst way to spend 45 minutes.
Favorite Tracks: Peace Sells; My Last Words; Good Morning/Black Friday

No comments:

Post a Comment