“Hangar 18” runs out of lyrics with plenty of song left. Dave Mustaine finishes describing concealed extraterrestrials, then he and Marty Friedman spend the remaining minutes trading guitar leads over a succession of shifting riffs. The vocals never return. By then, there’s no particular reason to miss them. How does Rust in Peace fit so much playing into its songs without losing the listener?
Released September 24, 1990, through Capitol, the album was Megadeth’s first with Friedman and drummer Nick Menza alongside Mustaine and bassist David Ellefson. Mustaine and Mike Clink produced it, with Max Norman mixing the original release. That recording gives the arrangements room to be heard. The rhythm guitars sound wiry and sharply defined, the bass remains distinct beneath them, and Menza’s snare cuts through without burying the picking. You can hear where one phrase ends and the next begins.
That matters immediately on “Holy Wars… The Punishment Due.” The opening figure tumbles through quick runs and clipped chords, establishing a recognizable pattern before Mustaine starts singing. His short, sour phrases about religious conflict fit between the guitar accents. A brief acoustic passage then separates that opening section from the slower account of vengeance. The riff broadens, and the vocal leaves more space. When the faster playing returns, you recognize the ground beneath it, even as Mustaine’s lead guitar tears across the rhythm.
The changes are part of what makes the song memorable. Each section has a different pace and purpose, and Megadeth lets you hear the join. There’s no need to disguise a six-minute arrangement as a conventional verse and chorus song when its individual parts are this distinct.
“Hangar 18” gets there another way. Its ringing opening chords leave space around the melody, and the brief vocal sections establish the secret military installation before the guitars take over. Friedman bends into notes and stretches phrases across the beat; Mustaine answers with harsher, more abrupt runs. Beneath them, the rhythm parts grow busier and change shape. The leads have different personalities, but the riffs give their exchanges direction. Another solo means another development in the song.
“Tornado of Souls” brings that relationship into sharper focus. Its opening harmonics and skipping main riff establish a melodic identity long before Friedman’s solo. Mustaine strains around the chorus, his bitterness audible in the way he pushes the words out. Friedman leaves space between his opening phrases, holds bends, and gradually works toward the faster passages. Those early notes give the solo something to build from. By the time his playing accelerates, you’re already following the melody.
Mustaine’s singing keeps all this precision from sounding overly neat. He crowds syllables together, sneers through lines, and cuts words short. On “Take No Prisoners,” the shouted responses and sudden stops match lyrics that turn from battlefield commands to the abandonment of wounded soldiers. Menza punctuates those breaks while Ellefson gives the tightly clipped riffs a thicker bottom end. The band can execute a difficult passage cleanly and still sound thoroughly pissed off.
It also knows when to stop filling every second. “Dawn Patrol” reduces the arrangement to a creeping bass figure, restrained drums, and Mustaine’s low narration about environmental ruin. Its stubborn repetition gives your ears a break from the guitar detail. Menza’s rolling introduction to “Rust in Peace… Polaris” then brings the full band back into view.
Rust in Peace holds the listener because its complexity gives the songs more things to remember. The acoustic turn in “Holy Wars,” the changing guitar voices in “Hangar 18” and Friedman’s patient opening phrases in “Tornado of Souls” all make the longer arrangements easier to follow. Megadeth keeps supplying new parts, but it gives you time to get attached to them. Even after the words stop, there’s still a song worth following.
Written by Rob Joncas for DeadNoteMedia.
Artist information and music courtesy of the band.
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