Customer Reviews

Megadeth - Greatest Hits

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

After years of listening and watching Megadeth on radio and MTV, I finally decided to obtain this "Greatest Hits" collection. Very heavy and melodic with Dave Mustaine's snarling vocals! Long before buying this collection, I was only familiar with songs like "Symphony Of Destruction", "Sweating Bullets", and "Train Of Consequences", songs you'd only hear on the radio. Now, after listening to this collection, I've realized just how truly great the band is! Combine the technically proficient fast guitar playing with Dave's biting lyrics and cynicism and lots of melody and you have some truly MEGinificent music! My favorite track overall is "Peace Sells" followed closely by "Mechanix". Classic thrash metal never sounded so good! I've already ordered Rude Awakening and The System Has Failed. Most of all, I'm already looking forward to the release of their new album, United Abominations. In all honesty, I think these guys are even better than Metallica!

This album is a good overview of Megadeth's work. I would recommend this album to anyone new to Megadeth, or who doesn't already have their other albums.

I'm a huge Megadeth fan who loves most every thing they have out. Therefore, to say that this album is lacking, or full of bad songs would be wrong of any fan of the bands music. I do however have a gripe about this album, and it is this... When I heard they were doing another greatest hits release I was excited because I expected it to be like a "Disc 2" to Capital Punishment. When I saw the track list I was disappoitned to see that most of the songs were already on their first greatest hits album. What is the point of relasing the same songs twice? I knew that I wouldn't get lucky enough to find songs from the bands latest 2 studio releases, "The World Needs a Hero" and the surprisingly unbelievable "System Has Failed." Given that it was a Capital release I at least expected an entirely different tracklist than Capital Punishment. So, for my own amusement, I came up with my own tracklist for this album. This is more along the lines of what I expected to see...

1. Skin o' my Teeth
2. Go to Hell
3. Prince of Darkness
4. I'll Get Even
5. Countdown to Extinction
6. She-Wolf
7. Good Mourning/Black Friday
8. A Secret Place
9. Mechanix
10. Insomnia
11. The Killing Road
12. Tornado of Souls
13. Breadline
14. The Killing Road

* If I could also choose songs from "TWNAH" and "TSHF" they would be...

15. Promises
16. Return to Hangar
17. Die Dead Enough
18. Blackmail the Universe
19. Of Mice and Men

Who knows...Maybe next time!!!

While Megadeth may not enjoy the huge amount of commercial success that Metallica does, a greatest hits album is certainlly justified.
If you like Megadeth but arent a big enough fan to buy all of the albums,, this cd is for you. On an interesting side note, all the songs on this cd were chosen by Megadeth fans, via an online poll on Megadeths official Fan-Forums.

Out of the big 4 thrash bands of the 80s, Megadeth has always been my favourite. Theyve had a great array of awesome albums, slightly altering their sound in the 90s but not as much as some (Ahem Metallica). Their last Greatest Hits release Capitol Punishments was a big disapointment though, mainly containing 90s singles and also 15 tracks including 2 new ones is not enough for a complete Best Of collection. So I had hopes for this one, being fan chosen to deal the goods. In some ways it does but its still lacking some essential songs.

The album is presented in a completely random order but it probably is better then Capital Punishments newest to oldest tracklisting. Again there is more songs chosen from the 90s albums, being there is more of them but this still disapoints me. Only one song Mechanix from KIMB and only one from SFSGSW which definatly needed at least one more. Wheres Mary Jane or even Anarchy in the UK? Peace Sells gets one more song (Wake Up Dead) then it did on Capital Punishment which is pretty good but RIP has exactly the same as it had on Capital Punishment. I definatly would have included one more from that, it is widely regarded as their best album.

Countdown to Extinction recieves 3 songs, Skin O' My Teeth which wasnt included on Capital Punishment but for the life of me i cant figure out why they chose this song over Ashes In Your Mouth which as well as being a far superior song recieved more votes on the [...] forums. But I guess final decision goes. Youthanasia recieves the 2 hits good songs but they dont measure up to Countdown to Extinction. Its great Angry Again was included from the out of print Hidden Treasures. From Cryptic Writings, Trust and She-Wolf. Trust was a big hit and She-Wolf was a fan favourite so its great to see it on here. Risk, the album where they apparently sold out recieves one favourite, Prince of Darkness which is a much better song then the Industrial flavoured Crush Em' that was on Capital Punishment. Next up is Kill the King, one of Mustaines favourites so we all knew it would be included although im not too pleased about it as it was the bonus track on Capital Punishment and not really needed here. Good song though. Then Dread and the Fugitive song, the only song included off The World Needs a Hero. Would have liked to see another song from that album on here because this was included on Capital Punishment as a bonus track as well.

And thats where it ends. Yes nothing off The System Has Failed which is by far their best album since Youthanasia. I dont know what Mustaine was thinking but its obivous a 2cd package was needed to fully display all that Megadeth could be. Wheres Tornado of Souls, Devils Island, Maybe some live tracks or other classic Deth? Kick the Chair, Blackmail the Universe, Die Dead Enough or any song from The System Has Failed? The bonus DVD is all well and good but its pretty much just an extended teaser for the upcoming Arsenal Of Megadeth DVD. Its still a very good hits compilation if you want to get into megadeth or if you are a Megadeth completest but for your average fan its not really worth it. I would personally just skip any Greatest Hits CD and go straight to the studio albums, which is where the magic really happens.

When Megadeth and Capitol Records decided to part ways a few years back, there was a best of compialtion entitled "Capitol Punishment: The Megadeth Years" that Capitol Records released in 2000 compiling many of Megadeth's singles. For one thing, those who A.) already own every Megadeth album or B.) are casual fans and already own "Capitol Punishment", have no reason whatsoever to buy "Greatest Hits", which even though does contain much more material that "Capitol Punishment", still comes off as a cash in attempt from the record label. The only pluses are for those who may not have purchased "Capitol Punishment" or the band's 1995 "Hidden Treasures" EP or the Last Action Hero soundtrack, is that "Kill the King" is here, as well as the fan favorite "Angry Again" which are among some of the best material Dave Mustaine ever created. Other songs which would have been more than welcome on "Capitol Punishment", such as "Mechanix", "Wake Up Dead", "Skin O' My Teeth", "She-Wolf", and "Prince of Darkness" are here, but alas, classics like "Tornado of Souls", "Reckoning Day", and "Devil's Island" have once again been ignored. If you're a new fan to the band and are looking to just get into Megadeth, this may be a welcome place to start, but you are much better off checking out the band's single releases instead.

This release is terrific for someone that does not already own any Megadeth music. This is a great collection of some of their best songs. Megadeth is one of the original four "Thrash Metal" bands which also includes Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax.

I was turned on to Megadeth after purchasing their Youthanasia CD (used, too!) and haven't looked back. I understand Dave Mustaine was with Metallica in the early years and he ticked them off enough to kick him out of their band. Thanks to them for starting Megadeth! MD has hit road bumps along the way; numerous lineup changes and Dave suffering nerve damage in his arm in early 2002 and was unable to play guitar. It was enough for him to disband Megadeth. I remember their website was pretty grim about Dave ever playing guitar again and thus Megadeth ever rebanding and continuing on. With intense physical therapy Megadeth came back in 2004 with a vengeance and released The System Has Failed. Could've fooled me that Dave wasn't able to play guitar just a couple of years earlier!

Although this CD does contain their best according to fan voting it by far does not contain all of their best. I will easily say that after 20 years Megadeth is still as heavy as they were in the beginning. Most Metallica fans don't care for Megadeth and it's their loss.

The worst reviewed (considered a bust, but I like it) Megadeth release, Risk, is great compared to the worst released Metallica, St. Anger. Megadeth just keeps rocking and getting stronger as they roll! I do like Metallica up to the point where they became commercialized with the Black Album. I can recall phoning in to the local rock station a few years ago and being hung up on when requesting Megadeth be played, in contrast you hear Metallica all the time. Sometimes the best of something is not heard by everyone, just the many that WANT it. I do hear Megadeth once in a blue moon on FM and sparingly on XM. That's fine with me.

Though I don't have every release I do have 12 of Megadeth's CD's along with MD.45, a side project of Dave's, and I enjoy them all. I do have "the three" by Metallica (Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets and ...And Justice for All) but that's all I care to have at this time. You can't go wrong if this is the only Megadeth CD you'll ever buy but I'm convinced if this is your first purchase of Megadeth it won't be your last!

It's a great CD jampacked full of Megadeth's most brutal songs. My only complaint is that they didn't put "Sleepwalker" on there.

If you're a Megadeth fan, this CD is a must-have!

~Andy

To you die hard Megadeth fans out there, if your looking at this album seek out the 'Limited Edition' it has a bonus DVD which features a concert from the Fillmore Auditorium, Denver, Colorado 12/27/99

Bonus DVD - Live Track List is:

1. Prince of Darkness
2. Holly Wars....The Punishment Due
3. In My Darkest Hour
4. Hanger 18
5. Sweating Bullets
6. Symphony Of Destruction
7. Peace Sells


- also has a trailer for the Arsenal of Megadeth.

P.S. My rating of this album is for the one with the Bonus DVD, NOT the standard issue release.

This is a great compilation cd for both Meagadeth fans and casual fans who haven't heard that many songs from these guys or don't have their albums. This should replace Capitol Punishment since it's way better and has more songs you've got 17 from each album so its a huge improvement. Megadeth have always been a pioneering thrash metal group when they started of in thier glory days during the 80's Dave Mustain had just been kicked out of Metallica so he decided to make his own heavy metal group as payback and the rest was history. Anyway the cd has a great sample of Megadeth's well known hits and songs recognised by thier fans, they've gotten everything from Peace sells, Holy wars, Sweating bullets to Prince of darkness and Mechanix they even got Angry again which was from the Last action hero movie soundtrack which I thought was awesome as well as Kill the king which was the song released for Capital Punishment so it would be unnecessery to get that album. You should get this with the bonus dvd since it has a live concert even though it was a bit short it was still fantastic it was shot at The Fillmore auditorium in Denver Colarado in 99, you also get a promo clip for The arsenal of Megadeth dvd and a music video for Kill the king, enjoy.