Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Following on from the 25th Anniversary release of the Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying album by Megadeth in 2011, the band have once again decided to give new life to an album that in all honesty doesn’t need to be tinkered with but is great fun to enjoy nonetheless. Countdown to Extinction is one of the four great albums of Megadeth’s and Dave Mustaine’s early period and alongside Peace Sells…, So Far, So Good…So What! and Rust In Peace stand out as almost impossible to age and see decrease in stature, no matter how much the ravages of time may try.
There are so few Heavy Metal albums that don’t date quickly, they retain their charm, certainly their undisputed power to thrill but in time they can grate and ultimately don’t get played as often as when the listener first gets their hands on them. Aside from Megadeth’s debut album, the American lords of Thrash Metal had a great run up until 1994’s Youthanasia album. Perhaps the reason why Youthanasia dated so quickly was the enormity of its predecessor’s stature and its complex themes of personal alienation and self-loathing, political and military attack and the consequences of ones actions.
It stands out alongside Rust In Peace as possibly the best two albums before the bands renaissance in the last few years. Its music, even after 20 years, still sounds exciting and guttural. The anger, angst and brilliant drum pattern deliberation of Sweating Bullets is matched in its intensity by the almost political satire like quality of Foreclosure of a Dream and its damning of the loss of the American Dream. Perhaps with the American Presidential election taking place only a couple of days after the 20th anniversary release, it is a timely reminder to those taking part that what they say now will surely come back to haunt them in later life should they upset the electorate once more.
It was also the album that saw the merging, the understated blurring of Thrash Metal and environmental concerns. The title track, Countdown to Extinction, won the group the Humane Society’s Genesis Award. In a world where Heavy Metal has its many detractors, such an acknowledgement should dispel certain beliefs about the genre, however these beliefs of the music and of their fans still persist in lots of quarters.
Perhaps the great bonus of this timely release is the addition of the bands performance at San Francisco’s Cow Palace as a C.D. extra. Not only does it capture the band at what it does best, namely their no nonsense live approach, but also a reminder for their fans why they are still to this day considered one of the top four bands of the genre, some would no doubt say the best.
Ian D. Hall