10 Times Megadeth Did It Better Than Metallica

From their worst efforts to their best, Metallica and Megadeth released their finest albums during the 80s peak of Thrash Metal. Belonging to the ‘Big Four’ (with Slayer and Anthrax) completing the lineup, 1986 was the biggest year in Thrash.

Master of Puppets, containing legendary tracks such as Battery, Master of Puppets, Sanitarium, Leper Messiah, and Orion, scored the band much critical success and was their gateway for global recognition. Battery remains a Thrash favourite to this day and has been favourably covered by Machine Head. Master of Puppets is a complex track, which goes from super fast to super melodic, showing how the band had developed. Sanitarium is a solemn song with an arpeggio verse structure, which seems like a forerunner to the Metallica masterpiece, One.

While Master of Puppets is very good, Megadeth’s Peace Sells is simply phenomenal. Containing classics such as Wake Up Dead, the dark and masterful guitar skills in The Conjuring, and the tempo altering ballad turned Thrash track, Good Mourning / Black Friday, Peace Sells steals the show. Also on the album is Devil’s Island, a musical descent into doom as Mustaine and Friedman battle their guitars almost effortlessly taking listeners on a rollercoaster of speed, power, and precision.

Finally, for everything Master of Puppets has on its album, it doesn’t have the title track from Megadeth’s ’86 release, Peace Sells. The track boasts the skills of all players in what has to be the greatest Megadeth song of all time.