MEGADETH — Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good! (review)

MEGADETH — Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good! album cover Album · 1985 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
UMUR
"Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!" is the debut full-length studio album by US, California thrash metal act Megadeth. The album was released through Combat Records in June 1985. After being kicked out of Metallica in April 1983, lead vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine opted to create his own band and named it Megadeth. The band was initially called Fallen Angels, but after meeting bassist David Ellefson things fell into place and the band was renamed Megadeth. The original trio version of Megadeth recorded the March 1984 "Last Rites" demo, which led them to be signed by Combat Records. Soon after the demo was released original drummer Lee Rausch left and was replaced by Gar Samuelson. Guitarist Chris Poland was added as second guitarist and the quartet lineup who recorded "Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!" was in place.

The music on the album is old school American thrash/speed metal, which means that there are lots of traditional heavy metal elements in the music as well as thrash metal ditto ("Chosen Ones" could almost have been a Motörhead song). Traditional heavy metal elements are something that Megadeth have actually always included in their music. While the music is unmistakably the sound of Megadeth, there are a couple of factors that make this album a sub par effort to my ears. The production by Dave Mustaine and Karat Faye is pretty horrible, lifeless and without punch. It´s pretty noisy and messy. I have the 2002 remixed and remastered version and the production doesn´t even sound good on that one. The original version is even worse.

The material is decent but not much more than that. There aren´t many tracks from this album which should ever make it unto a Megadeth live tracklist if you ask me. The choice to include "Mechanix", which is a song Dave Mustaine played and co-wrote with Metallica, is more a curiosity than a great song. To those who don´t know Metallica´s version of "Mechanix" (...have you been living under a rock?) it is called "The Four Horsemen" and appears on their debut full-length studio album "Kill ´em All (1983)".

So all the negatives aside, "Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!" is still a decent debut album from Megadeth. But it´s arguably one of the weaker debut efforts from the early thrash metal scene, because of the sub par production values and the immature and uneven songwriting. The restless energy and rawness of the performances are some of the greatest assets of the album and definitely some of the saving graces. At 31:27 it´s a very short album and considering that 4:39 of those minues are spend on playing a cover of "These Boots" by Nancy Sinatra, there really isn´t that much original material featured on "Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!". A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.
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