Megadeth celebrate their 35th anniversary this year and in this respect, they reissue their debut album through Century Media and Legacy Recordings. Many of you may remember that the band had spent a significant part of their initial budget on not so healthy activities. Therefore, the production quality of the original release was somehow amateur due to lack of adequate funds, creating a blurry sound, although it intensified Megadeth’s aggressive thrash attitude and anger.
35 years later, “Killing Is My Business…and Business Is Good!” is reissued in a completely restored version, according to Mustaine’s intention, who wanted to offer something of higher quality to the fans. The new version, subtitled “The Final Kill”, was remixed by Mark Lewis and remastered by Ted Jensen and indeed, brings the clarity that the original release lacked, offering superior listening experience.
Furthermore, “The Final Kill” includes live performances of the songs from VHS tapes found in Mustaine’s attic (however, some recordings are really bad), Megadeth’s 3-track cassette demo, that was released independently one year prior to the debut album (demo versions of “Last Rites / Loved to Deth”, “The Skull Beneath the Skin” and “Mechanix” are real gems that should not be missed) and the cover of “These Boots”, which has been added back with recut vocals.
Last but not least, the album has a new cover, while the packaging also includes classic flyers, band photos and mainman’s liner notes, commenting about the struggles that the band faced these years as well as some surprising moments during the remixing process.
The historical value of the record is indisputable, since it expresses Mustaine’s anger, irritation and desire for revenge after he got expelled from Metallica. Being raw and aggressive, it features classic thrash dynamites like “Rattlehead” and “Mechanix”, where extremely fast riffing is predominant, while Dave’s premature technical ability, evident in songs like “Last Rites / Loved to Death” and “Looking Down the Cross”, would achieve a much higher peak in “Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?” and reach perfection in “Rust in Peace”.
Despite the poor initial production, Megadeth’s first step into the world of metal offers true thrashing pleasure through unrefined, rough and full of energy songs.
♦ 8/10
Alex Nikolaidis
