Peace Sells... But Whose Buying (Megadeth) vs Ride The Lightning (Metallica) - MAW 2

You've seen me review Iron Maiden, and you've seen me review Judas Priest, both in the very first episode of the new blog post series, Metal Album Wars. However, this time I decided to take a different approach, and go for two bands that rival eachother, and have created two really great albums during those years. This Metal Album War will be between the mainstream sellouts known as Metallica, and their bitter rival with a frontman who was once their guitarist, Megadeth. In this Metal Album War, I will be reviewing Megadeth's "Peace Sells... But Whose Buying", and Metallica's "Ride the Lightning", both of which were made in the 80s during the time Ronald Reagan was President, and when the San Francisco 49ers were actually good at the time.

Album 1: Peace Sells... But Whose Buying by Megadeth

I actually prefer this album over Rust in Peace, and I'm not even joking about this. This is the album that got me really into Megadeth, and it was even my favorite band for a little bit, around the time I made that list on reasons why Metallica sucks. Wake Up Dead was just a really good song from the start, and the solos were just astounding. Although the song was mostly instrumental, the lyrics in the song were also pretty good. That song was definitely the one you wanted to start one of the greatest Thrash Metal albums of all time.

That was only just one song from the album that was great. The Conjuring was also great, with it's outstanding, unique intro, and just felt like your typical Megadeth thrash classic, which is just great. Peace Sells is the next song on the album, and it does deserve to be the most popular song on that album, with its phenomenal lyrics, being some of the best in all of Megadeth. However, the thrashing doesn't come until the very end, but it's still much better than Symphony of Destruction. Until I listened to this song, I didn't care about Megadeth because all I listened to was the most popular songs from Rust In Peace, Countdown To Extinction, and their newer albums, which weren't nearly as good as this album. Devil's Island is probably my favorite track on the album, as not only the intro was outstanding, but so was the entire song as a whole. The solos were even better than Wake Up Dead, and the chorus was one of the best I've ever heard in any thrash metal song. It was an underrated song, and I believe that it deserves far more attention than it got, because of how good it was.

If that's not all, we also have another great song, Good Mourning/Black Friday, which is definitely top 10 material for the best Megadeth songs. It's literally two different songs in one, like Metallica's Orion. Bad Omen and My Last Words were also great songs, proving that there aren't any really bad songs from the album, excluding that Superstitious song. The production was also great, as every song sounded great, and better than any song from Rust in Peace. I recommend this album for the most serious thrashers, as there are a lot of thrashy tracks in this album like Wake Up Dead, Devil's Island, and My Last Words. However, let's see what I think about Ride The Lightning before giving the crown to this album.

Album 2: Ride the Lightning by Metallica

Most of you would easily pick this album over any Megadeth album any day, because it's considered one of the greatest Metal albums of all time, and it still isn't the best Metallica album according to many fans. However, I prefer this album over Master of Puppets, and both of these albums being preferred over the most popular albums by those bands is one thing both of these albums have in common. Another thing they have in common is that they have incredible sound, but Ride The Lightning's was better.

Now onto the actual songs of the album. First up is thrash classic Fight Fire With Fire, which has one of the best intros in any metal song that I can think of. It's just that soft, melodic intro that immediately goes into one of their fastest songs of all time. If you think that song is great, Ride The Lightning is a much better song, and has some of my favorite riffs in the song. If anything, this album contains not only some of the best riffs in the album, but some of the best solos, as both Ride The Lightning, Fight Fire With Fire, and Fade to Black have exceptional solos that show the true talent of both guitarists. Lars Ulrich was actually a great drummer back then, and Cliff Burton got to play his very own bassline during the beginning of For Whom The Bell Tolls. Trapped Under Ice and Creeping Death are also some good thrash classics, just adding on to this album's greatness, and even that one song, Escape, which seems to be one of those album fillers was also pretty good. However, one of my favorite songs in the album, if not my favorite, is the epic, long instrumental known as The Call of Ktulu, which is a masterpiece, and I mean really good, as in "Stairway to Heaven" good.

Every song in this album is unique in its own way, leaving it to be one of my favorite heavy metal albums of all time, but there are still some albums that are better than this, and Master of Puppets is not one of them. This album also seems to have the best Metallica songs, as well as their fourth studio album, and the first with Jason Newsted, "...And Justice For All". However, with songs like Ride The Lightning, Fade to Black, and The Call of Ktulu on this album, it is an album hard to beat. Anyways, lets see how it ranks against Peace Sells.

The Verdict

Peace Sells... But Whose Buying - 93/100
Ride the Lightning - 95/100

Ok, so you can call Metallica overrated sellouts that suck because they made St. Anger and Lulu, but they have won this Metal Album War over Megadeth, and you can't do anything about it you Metallica haters, you're just going to have to deal with it, because I like Metallica better. However, this doesn't mean I hate Peace Sells, as it was a great album. Songs like Wake Up Dead and Devil's Island were both amazing, but compared to songs like The Call of Ktulu, it's complete garbage. However, Peace Sells does have great songwriting, and it would've been the winner if it weren't for that one instrumental, which was written by Dave Mustaine. Congratulations Mustaine, you just helped your own rival win this Metal Album War, which is actually pretty stupid considering your fans were depending on you to be better than Metallica.

Anyways, I have said my thoughts on this huge band rivalry, the Auburn and Alabama of music, and now that the Metal Album Wars are finished for now, I will be seeing you later, probably when my next episode of Bloody Hatred comes out, which is going to be probably one of the best blog posts you will ever see.

Comments

Good one. - Skullkid755