Dave Mustaine revived Megadeth in the mid-2000s, remastering and reissuing his band's entire Capitol catalog and hitting the concert circuit in earnest. Greatest Hits is part of that revival. It's the second Megadeth best-of, replacing the one from five years prior, Capitol Punishment. Greatest Hits is an improvement, loaded with 17 selections, three more than its predecessor. There's also some fancy packaging and a hyperbolic "Love Live Megadeth" tribute written by Penelope Spheeris, the colorful director of The Decline of Western Civilization, Pt. 2: The Metal Years. It all adds up to a nice package, or more precisely, a sampler of Megadeth, from the band's pioneering thrash metal years to its later growing pains, with an unfortunate de-emphasis on the band's beginnings. Like the previous best-of released by Capitol, Greatest Hits overlooks much of Megadeth's prime years in favor of a balanced sample of selections from every album released by the label. There's going to be a large chunk of the market that is going to groan about this approach, since the early thrash years are the reason most Megadeth fans are fans in the first place, and also the reason why the band has been able to ramble on all these years despite some mostly dull new music. Since Megadeth released so many albums for Capitol, there's never room here for more than two tracks per album: Peace Sells, Rust in Peace, Countdown to Extinction, and Youthanasia get two representations, the rest get only one. Such breadth doesn't make for the best listening experience, especially because the disc hopscotches through time. That quibble aside, Greatest Hits does give you a sample of every Megadeth album, even duds like Risk. If you're serious about getting into this band, however, you're best off going through the albums one by one. The good ones are good all the way through; if you like "Peace Sells," you're going to like Peace Sells. But if you're just curious and would like a broad one-disc sampler, Greatest Hits is your ticket. You'll end up with a good understanding of Megadeth -- old and not as old, good and not as good -- and what to expect from each album, of which there are a couple stone-cold classics. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide
Megadeth at their best are better than Metallica at their worst. Now, just imagine if Kirk had stayed in Exodus and Dave had stayed in Metallica and Cliff hadn't died. We'd have two awesome bands, instead of one awesome band and two who were almost awesome.
when Burton died, the "mainstream underground" (if you will) metal movement died with him- Justice was good, but still had his influence(and would have been better with better studio production) and after Rust In Peace, Megadeth has, um, .....well you can't use forever, Dave, and still be creative!!
Nah, Metallica and Megadeth just have different subjects on which their music is about. they both deal with war, death, insanity, addictions, weakness, strength... etc i guess megadeth has been going more hardcore, while metallica is going more soft ie. death magnetic
Grande Megadeth!!!!! Last weekend I assist to my second megadeath concert and I remembered the feelings why I discovered Rock music when I was 13 years. I love Rock and thanks megadeath!!!
First off, this is how I got into Megadeth. Great album, every song is good. It's also got some variety. A few things to correct on the review: Countdown to Extinction has three songs, not two, and Cryptic Writings has two but isn't in the list of albums with two. And Capitol Punishment: the Megadeth Years has two technically.