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Countdown to Extinction

1. Skin O' My Teeth
2. Symphony of Destruction
3. Architecture of Aggression
4. Foreclosure of a Dream
5. Sweating Bullets
6. This Was My Life
7. Countdown to Extinction
8. High Speed Dirt
9. Psychotron
10. Captive Honor
11. Ashes In Your Mouth

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In A Mega Mood
Megadeth is one of the most well known "thrash" type bands that came out of the 80s, and in my opinion the finest. Why? Because of their powerhouse talent in the members themselves, and their knack for actually writing good songs. I have never been a fan of gritty, garbly, "Cookie monster" vocals, but Dave Mustaine, even though with his gritty growl still manages to actually sing. His voice is also smoother than most of the other thrashers, plus his voice just reeks with charisma. I find myself enjoying his vocal delivery more than anything else in the songs. Of course Dave is also a pretty solid guitarist, and for flash and shredding purposes, they have the fabulous Marty Friedman, who doesn't really need much of an introduction. Their lineup (on this disc) rounds out with Nick Menza on drums, David Ellefson on bass guitar, who the two of them combined make up a great rhythm section, adding a very heavy backbone, and some good metal 'crunch'.

 

That Sweet Symphony (of Destruction)
Now on to the disc. "Countdown to Extinction" was their follow up to the thrash classic "Rust In Peace", which was more of a shred fest than anything else. "Countdown" delivers more in the songwriting area, with some well written tunes. There's the energetic "Skin O' My Teeth" which is close to my favorite, with its tongue in cheek lyrics and an almost bouncy type sound punched into it. "Symphony Of Destruction" is chunky and clunky with a straightforward enough chorus to keep it interesting. The lyrics about the political puppets running the country, set well with that unusual groove that keeps the song barreling along at full throttle. "Architecture of Aggression" is well, aggressive, and the lyrics are... well yeah they are good here too. This is another song that is just brimming with energy behind all that crunchy musical background. Dave's vocals really carry this one beyond just the average song, and the bridge is great. Smoldering solos courtesy of Marty break up the crushing powerhouse rhythms that keep the song together. "Foreclosure of a Dream" is a decent song, incorporating some acoustic guitar into the mix, and the drum work seems to do double time in places, really tight work. It only suffers slightly from repetiveness near the end. The almost amusing view into the mind of the mentally sick, "Sweating Bullets" is one of the last few real 'gems' on the album, and my second favorite of the album. The lead in riff is real awesome, and haunting. "Nice story, tell it to Reader's Digest!" There's a piece of Dave's life in "This Was My Life", a bit of a personal song for him, that signals the end of the really outstanding material on the disc.

So the first part of the album is better than just solid. Then the songs in the middle are good but not of the same high caliber, and it finishes out pretty average actually. The first songs had little 'extras' that make them standout, but the rest of the disc flows into itself. You have the title track, which is driven with some sharp guitar riffs, however, I really like the message of the song, so I will recommend it. Then there's their ode to skydiving "High Speed Dirt", and "Psychotron", which I Have to say is plain weird, but it conjures up pretty some scary imagery of some kind of critter you'd meet in a horror-sci fi movie. "Captive Honor" holds nothing particularly special except describing some of the horrible conditions in prisons. The final song, kind of wraps up the state of society today by painting a hopeless picture of the future. Marty's high flying fretboard antics exchange nicely with Dave's crunchy rhythm work, to make one of the most interesting guitar fests in the whole cd, which is kind of weird, since the rest of the song is just standard thrash fare, Mega-style. A nice extra touch for the "grand" finale.

 

Final Verdict

"Countdown to Extinction" wasn't near the best thing Megadeth ever did, but its still a solid, and enjoyable album, one I have listened to many times (especially the first half). Songs like "Skin O' My Teeth", "Sweating Bullets" and "Symphony of Destruction" make this early 90s "metal classic", a worthy addition to any collection. It was a crossroad point in Megadeth's career (the previous albums were more over the top, virtuoso flashy thrash material, while the ones following went for a more mainstream sound). This was the point where they turned their attention more to delivering songs with good structure and mainstream hooks to gain a bigger hold on the bigger audiences. It seems to have worked too, because a wide range of metal fans really enjoy Megadeth, whether they like the lighter pop metal sounds, death metal, thrash, power or whatever. Most do like Megadeth, so they have hit on some kind of chord that makes the music accessible to the diehard and the casual fans. If heavier metal appeals to you, definitely give this album a spin, its very enjoyable. The more you listen to it, the more it will grow on you.

Finally to sum things up, a little quote full of brutal honesty from Dave Mustaine himself. "I think the reason people think Countdown's a pessimistic album is that they're scared, because they know I'm right and that's it. If you don't like what I say, you know what? Do something about it! Try and help improve our living conditions, but don't just there and say, 'Oh Dave's pessimistic.' Fuck you, don't listen to the record! It's better than lying about it and saying everything's fine...Things aren't fine!" (Mustaine,1993)

Rating = 7.6
by Alanna Evans
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