Crunch Time: Megadeth

...take no SHIT

*Welcome to the latest edition of Crunch Time, where I swoon over some of my favorite HEAVY riffs.*

This months issue of Decibel inducts Megadeth's seminal thrash masterwork, Rust In Peace into the annals of their Hall of Fame. I've also been on a bit of a thrash metal kick since I started jamming with a buddy of mine last month. Needless to say, I've been itching for another Crunch Time installment. This one is long overdue. You can't talk about epic guitar riffs without including Dave Mustaine. In his prime, the man was the epitome of heavy metal bad-assery. A true maniac in every sense of the word. Despite his massive drug habit/addictions and penchant for, you know, being out of his gourde insane, Mustaine is easily one of the greatest riff masters EVER. Of course his crowning achievement is Rust In Peace. Riffs for fucking days on this album. It was like pulling teeth trying to narrow the list for this post but I finally managed to make my choice. At the end of the day, it had to be "Take No Prisoners."


Which riff? The whole damn song man! From the buzz saw by way of hornets nest intro riff, to the start stop neck snapper near the 50 second mark, this song is just pure frenzied adrenaline. I can't even imagine the amount of speedballs in Mustaine's system when he wrote this tune. I don't care that he's a cranky old Evangelical Christian/Conservative Republican now. The fact that he survived and made it to his 50's is a miracle (so maybe he IS right about that Jesus stuff huh? haha). He could go down in infamy Michael Jackson style and start sodomizing special Olympians for all I care. Dave's repertoire of epic riffs in Metallica and his brain child Megadeth is un-fucking-touchable. End of story.

*Bonus Clip*
"Take No Prisoners" LIVE in 1990 (Clash of The Titans tour w/ Slayer!!!!!)

If I could go back in time there's only two things I'd want to do. Stop Gavrilo Princip from killing Archduke Franz Ferdinand and starting WWI (which ultimately led to WWII and the Cold War). The other? BE AT THIS SHOW!