Symphony of Destruction

This song has always been a favored whipping boy by Thrash purists due to its commercial success and because it resembles a similar slowness and simplicity as that was exhibited by Metallica on the Black Album. The main riff has the catchiness factor applied so strongly that it draws comparisons to “Iron Man” and “Smoke on the Water”, along with the famed Metallica commercial breakthrough “Enter Sandman”, although MegaDeth has avoided the trap of allowing their guitar solos to become comical and their riffs to get overly repetitive.

Like many others, I obtained the European release a few years back, which included “Breakpoint” and “Go to Hell”. Although these songs are also found on “Hidden Treasures”, which I also possess, their inclusion on this single hints that Dave was in fact attempting to one-up his former band mates in the sales department, as these songs are a bit more thrash oriented, but contain similar moments of commercial cheese that was in high demand at the time. “Breakpoint” is probably the last truly speed oriented song put out by Deth before going towards the mid-tempo style of “Youthanasia”, which still endures to this day. Minus the goofy “Now I lay me down to sleep” spoken part, “Go to Hell” is also a fun song, and takes my pick for the best track off the Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey soundtrack, a movie that like its predecessor is a guilty pleasure of mine.

All in all, pretty commercial, but a good listening experience all the same. Since Hidden Treasure has gone out of print, the value of this particular version of the single is a bit higher to those looking for songs not found on the primary studio releases. 1992 was not a particularly good year for the Metal genre, especially the thrash genre, but as always there are some exceptions and this is one of them.

(Note: The version reviewed is the European issue which features the tracks 'Symphony Of Destruction', 'Breakpoint' and 'Go To Hell')

This is actually an excellent CD single and a worthwhile pickup to any serious Megadeth fan. Everyone knows 'Sympony Of Destruction' so I'll skip right past that that, it's the B-sides that make this a really interesting little CD. The second track 'Breakpoint' is above average for an unreleased song, it certainly wouldn't be out of place on Countdown To Extinction, it's kind of like a bridge between the thrash of the 80's Megadeth and the hard rock sound they would use on that particular album and pretty much for the rest of their careers. It's also got the quiet interlude with some spoken words from Mustaine that seems to pop up on all their post RIP albums.

'Go To Hell' is another solid song, the only real complaint is it features a child's voice over and lyrics along the lines of "prey the lord my soul to keep, if I die before I wake, prey the lord my soul to take...". C'mon Dave if you sick of the constant Metallica comparisons then for fucks sake don't have lines that feature heavily in one of Metallica's most famous ever songs. Apart from that it's a pretty rockin song with a cool chanting chorus and some nice leads that also could very easily could have been on CTE, though the Enter Sandman reference might have had something to do with it's exclusion.

Both of these B-sides later found their way on Hidden Treasures however with the deletion of that particular album it would certainly be worth your while to get your hands on this single if you ever come across it.