On So Far, So Good… So What!, Megadeth sound as though every song began as an argument nobody bothered to settle. Guitars crowd each other, Chuck Behler’s drums crack through a haze of reverb, and Dave Mustaine spits out words before they can choke him. The question running through the album is simple: can Megadeth turn instability into a musical identity, or are we hearing a band coming apart?
The playing remains precise, but the surface is rougher than Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? “Into the Lungs of Hell” opens with synthetic brass that resembles a military parade marching through wreckage. Once the guitars enter, the music keeps switching between clipped rhythmic figures and long, high leads. Mustaine attacks the beat while Jeff Young plays around it, giving the instrumental a restless shape instead of a clean guitar duel.
That friction becomes useful on “Set the World Afire.” After a brief sample of the Ink Spots’ “I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire,” the band tears into a main riff that crawls downward in tight chromatic steps. The verses run on rapid picking and Behler’s busy kick drums, but the song refuses to hold one pace for long. Half-time passages interrupt the rush, lead breaks open small gaps in the arrangement, and the final section gathers everything around the title. The shifts mirror lyrics that move from nuclear flash to rubble, extinction, and the bitter thought of survivors envying the dead.
The rhythm section keeps these packed arrangements readable. David Ellefson frequently doubles the guitar at full speed, then separates at the turnarounds with a small climb or held note. Behler is looser with his fills than Gar Samuelson was, throwing toms and cymbals across the edges of the riff. His brief spotlight in “502,” surrounded by police chatter and highway sound effects, suits a song that treats drunk driving like another bad decision made at full throttle.
The same disorder shapes the slower material. “Mary Jane” begins with a clean-picked incantation and a restrained Mustaine vocal, then tightens one section at a time until he is screaming the name over faster, sharper riffing. The arrangement follows the logic of a mind working itself into panic. “In My Darkest Hour” uses a similar rise on a larger scale. Its music was written after Mustaine learned of Cliff Burton’s death, though the lyrics focus on abandonment and a failed relationship. Measured guitar figures and blunt, marching chords gradually give way to a faster final section, while Mustaine moves from wounded restraint to open accusation.
The awkward choices fit that atmosphere. The rewritten lyrics and metallic guitar tone of “Anarchy in the U.K.” turn the Sex Pistols song into a blunt Megadeth barroom charge, with Steve Jones stepping in for the second solo. “Liar” leaves gaps in its riff so Mustaine can unload an increasingly ugly inventory of insults. “Hook in Mouth” makes censorship equally personal, spelling out “FREEDOM” while the band hammers the phrase until it resembles a public argument reaching the point of shouting.
So, can instability become a musical identity? Here, yes. The crowded mix, sudden turns, and frayed performances match songs about nuclear ruin, intoxication, betrayal, and censorship. Megadeth’s control lies in how quickly the music can change direction without dropping the riff. So Far, So Good… So What! captures a band capable of organizing its anger more easily than its own existence.
Written by Rob Joncas for DeadNoteMedia
Artist and event information courtesy of the band.
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