Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!

This has some really good songs, but it also has some much weaker songs. The production is bad even on the remaster, and it adds to the general sloppy vibe. This is the first line-up for Megadeth, and though it made a masterpiece later, this is just mediocre as a full listen.

I'll start with the positive. The first few songs are very good, and would have felt fine on their succeeding masterstroke. Supposedly, Mustaine's guitar rhythms were very different from what was normal at that time. I can't say for sure, but I will say that most of them are quite good and varied. The opening riff to Looking Down the Cross is amongst my favorites by them. The drumming is the last positive I will name. His jazzy style is very enjoyable for me, and I find the sloppy nature of the production only enhances his creativity.

Next, the neutral. Mustaine employs his snarl here, but it's different than it would be later. He's younger, so his voice is higher pitched than it was even on the follow-up. As well, he has a drunken character to his voice. It's not bad, and it fits the the sloppy nature of the songs, but it's not really good either. He doesn't seem to use the different voices he became known for, as these are all relatively samey. His lyrics don't have the focus of some of his later works. This has no cynical outlook on society or government, and one of them's about a bunny, but most are ok. The solos aren't what they would later be, but they're alright. I can't easily tell who is soloing when, but it doesn't matter too much. While the bass isn't as audible or interesting as he would later be, he's still easier for me to hear than most bassists.

Now, the negatives. For one, the production is abysmal. The original is almost as bad as Reek, which says quite a bit. Even the remaster is worse than any album they would do later. I'm rather impressed by how people could even tell if the riffing was ahead of it's time. The next problem is how quickly the album falls off. Nothing after track three is even above-average. The cover and The Mechanix are just godawful. I get why hardcore Megadeth fans will defend this song, but if wasn't for the Four Horseman, Mustaine himself probably wouldn't have bothered with this song. As I alluded to earlier, the lyrics are also pretty bad on a couple of songs, which combined with occasionally loud vocals, can make for an unpleasant listen. Toss in that the album is short to begin with, and this should have just been an EP.

Someone could complain that I'm not being fair considering the rating I gave to Metal Church. It's true that album has a big quality dip as well, but that was distinctly different. That had two metal classics to kick it off, and then it was followed by average to a little above songs. Nothing on there, save possibly the ballad, was bad. This has three good to very good songs, followed by five mostly below-average ones. Whatever could have happened to make these later songs passable didn't. What score it does get is due to those first three and some scattered riffs that are good on their own. I would recommend a thrash fan ripping the first three songs, and pretending that this was a short EP.