Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?by Megadeth

After being fired from Metallica, lead guitarist Dave Mustaine set out to form a faster, heavier metal band. Aptly named Megadeth, Dave Mustaine assumed the role of rhythm guitarist and lead singer with bassist David Ellefson, lead guitarist Chris Poland, and drummer Gar Samuelson. Their debut album, 'Killing Is My Business...And Business Is Good!', was released in 1985. While technically proficient and certainly vicious, the songs themselves were amateurish at times, even compared to many of their upstart peers. 1986's 'Peace Sells...but Who's Buying?', on the other hand, proved that the band had only revealed the tip of their musical iceberg and were rapidly growing. More technical, melodic, and intelligent than before, 'Peace Sells...' is considered to be one of thrash metal's all-time best albums.

First single "Wake Up Dead" opens the album in an unexpected fashion. Hardly sticking to the verse-chorus format, the song continuously changes riffs and tempo without any real main melody. Despite its lame, "evil" lyrics, the faster "The Conjuring" contains some awesome riffage; check out its almost funky break. The title track is quite possibly Megadeth's most famous song and easily their signature tune. Sporting an instantly memorable bass line courtesy of Ellefson (used as the intro to MTV News since 1990) and and one of Mustaine's most bitingly sarcastic vocal performances, "Peace Sells" is one of the definitive thrash metal songs. Fan-favorite "Devil's Island" is based on the French prison colony of the same name; its main rhythm is uncharacteristically galloping. Intro "Good Mourning" features an excellent solo from Poland before leading into "Black Friday". Starting out slower, a Sabbath-esque break riff propels the song into one of the fastest sections on the album. "Bad Omen"'s lyrics are rather stereotypical, but the main part of the song is almost danceable before it once again takes off at warp speed at the end. "I Ain't Superstitious" is originally a Willie Dixon song; the lyrics are changed in some parts and are rather humorous. "My Last Words" is more power metal-esque than most of Megadeth's material. An acoustic intro gives way into some more melodic verses, while the song's ending seems like it was copied by Testament during "Over the Wall" in hindsight.

Megadeth would later reach even greater heights of technical prowess and eventually gain mainstream appeal, but 'Peace Sells...' walks the line between their youthful, punk-inflected rage and the attributes of later offerings perfectly. As such, it is cited as the band's best album by many. Though sometimes overshadowed by other thrash albums of the same year like Metallica' 'Master of Puppets' and Slayer's 'Reign in Blood', 'Peace Sells...but Who's Buying?' should not be forgotten about and is an essential album for Megadeth fans and metalheads in general.