So Far, So Good… So What! is a record built from sharp edges and refusal. It doesn’t try to smooth itself into coherence or guide the listener through a clear shape. Songs arrive abrupt, loaded, and uneven, stitched together by attitude rather than design. The album isn’t concerned with flow. It’s concerned with impact.
“Into the Lungs of Hell” opens the record without framing or atmosphere. The instrumental functions as an assertion rather than an introduction, laying out aggression in quick, jagged phrases that don’t linger long enough to settle. It doesn’t establish balance or mood — it establishes friction.
That friction carries into “Set the World Afire,” where riffs stack aggressively and then fracture, replaced by the next idea before the previous one has resolved. The song doesn’t develop so much as accumulate, building tension through repetition and abrupt shifts. There’s no attempt to unify the parts. The roughness is the point.
Across the album, Megadeth favor abrasion over alignment. “Anarchy in the U.K.” is treated as raw material, stripped of subtlety and hammered into place. The cover doesn’t stand apart or signal homage. It’s absorbed into the album’s hostile framework, reinforcing confrontation rather than commentary.
Tracks like “Mary Jane” and “Hook in Mouth” rely on stop-start structures and clipped phrasing. Riffs lock briefly, then break apart, creating a sense of instability that never fully resolves. The songs don’t aim for groove or cohesion. They advance through collision, keeping everything tense and unsettled.
Dave Mustaine’s vocal performance mirrors that approach. His delivery is cutting and insistent, sharp without polish. He doesn’t hover above the music or shape it into clarity. He occupies it, reinforcing the songs’ jagged contours rather than smoothing them out. On “In My Darkest Hour,” space appears, but it isn’t comforting. The restraint there sharpens the bitterness instead of offering release.
The production leaves little room for softness. Guitars are raw and forward, drums strike with force, and the mix crowds the elements together. Separation is minimal, giving the album a claustrophobic edge. Instead of clarity, the sound favors immediacy — everything feels close, insistent, and unresolved.
What sets So Far, So Good… So What! apart within Megadeth’s catalog is its indifference to refinement. Songs aren’t cleaned up or redirected toward symmetry. When ideas clash or overlap, the album doesn’t correct itself. It allows the friction to stand.
This is thrash metal built from abrasion rather than elegance. The record doesn’t resolve its roughness or transform it into something orderly. It lets the jaggedness remain exposed.
So Far, So Good… So What! stands as a confrontational document — uneven, aggressive, and unapologetic. Not Megadeth at their cleanest or most precise, but Megadeth at their most willing to leave the edges visible and let the songs cut as they are.
Written by Rob Joncas for DeadNoteMedia
Artist and event information courtesy of the band.
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