As we had triumvirates of Hard Rock and of NWOBHM, so there seems to be a triumvirate of thrash – Slayer, Metallica, and Megadeth (or four, if we include the as-yet unheard Anthrax). As with Metallica, the tracks are a lot more detailed than I expected, almost prog-like in their changes of tempo and movements, just driven by distorted power chords rather than classical/jazz keyboards. Wake Up Dead is a great example of this.
The wall of noise effect again I found oddly soothing. I think it’s the sheer numbing sound of it all – I once described the dubstep EDM of Skrillex as being like a defibrillator for the brain, and thrash metal seems to have the same effect on me – the sound overwhelms everything else and brings with it a paradoxical state of calm. I did find the same kind of effect with some of Black Sabbath’s works as well.
Like Metallica, Megadeth aren’t All Thrash, All The Time. Good Mourning/Black Friday opens with a gentle arpeggio before building to a fast and furious section about a serial killer on a spree (these days it’d be as appropriate for the scrummage at Black Friday sales as well...). Bad Omen has a steady haunting build up with David Elleffson’s bass almost like John Williams’ theme from Jaws in its ominous feel of something dangerous approaching. I Ain’t Superstitious is a relatively short bit of blues-rock that hearkens back to Led Zeppelin (actually a cover of a Howlin’ Wolf song).
They like taunting evangelical types with satanic imagery – The Conjuring and Black Omen for example - but Dave Mustaine’s lyrics touch on social commentary as well. The title track is broadly a critique of US foreign policy, for example. Given how Reagan had saddled the Republican Party to evangelical types like Oral Roberts and Pat Robertson (vile old frauds and hypocrites), this broadside assault on American conservative values is perhaps not as broadside as it at first seems.
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