Taking sides: Metallica vs. Megadeth

Aside from "Peace Sells..." I just could never get into Megadeth much. Mustaine & co. write great riffs but Metallica were better dynamic songwriters.

er, "better, more dynamic songwriters"

Mustaine & co. = a better and generally more interesting person and SUPERclassic for the closing sequence in Decline Pt II.... but you really can't fuck with the first few Metallica albums. That was some era-defining stuff. Of course Metallica loses lots of points for getting way WAY shittier as they went on. Whereas Megadeth just stayed pretty much the same.

so... kind of a tie.

Well, neither one of them nowadays, but Megadeth's current live set destroys Metallicas (even if Dave sounds horrible on vocals live).

But, despite having less to choose from, I have to say Metallica.

While I think Megadeth's "Killing is My Business" is actually a more entertaining debut than "Kill 'Em All", I think "Peace Sells", while great, pales in comparison to Ride the Lightning, and that Rust in Peace, while solid, is not the masterpiece many have claimed (especially that godawful song "Lucretia").

Megadeth's last few albums have been quite boring as well.

But I like both groups. Metallica of course released the truly abysmal St. Anger last so they're on my shit list.

is it worse to be evil (Metallica) or boring (Megadeth)?

Slayer owns them both. Well, they did at least, until their last two shit albums.

Been perusing Mustaine's amusing Igram and imaging a world where he never split from Metallica and he and Hetfield became a Lennon and Macca for the thrash genre and became bigger than either band separately

BJO not otm. "rust in peace" is a bona fide classic.

I think I may prefer Rust In Peace over any Metallica album.

i'm with you on that. "countdown to extinction" also pretty good, though not quite as good as any of "kill em all", "master of puppets" or "ride the lightning"

i'm not super into the early megadeth albums, with the exception of a couple of tracks ("502" in particular is an all time jam)

The production on Rust In Peace is impeccable, I think. I really think they got it absolutely spot on with that record. I've always kinda seen Rust In Peace as Megadeth's version of ...And Justice For All. I like ...And Justice For All a hell of a lot, as it happens, and don't actually mind its dry-sounding production, but Rust In Peace just leaps out of the speakers. It's a very well-produced record, not to mention there's some absolutely killer drumming throughout of the kind you just wouldn't find on a Metallica record, and I speak as someone who isn't as down on Lars Ulrich as many others seem to be.

if we go by their classic era albums this is Kill Em All + Ride the Lightning + Master of Puppets + And Justice for all vs. Killing Is My Business + Peace Sells + So Far So Good So What + Rust in Peace. Megadeth was one of the great live acts of the era, when they hit their groove nobody could touch them -- I saw them on the Peace Sells tour and "Devils Island" was just unstoppable. It is kinda unfair that Metallica is sort of the metal band absolutely everybody knows about and Megadeth is niche-bound. But look at that Metallica run. Even though the Megadeth records sound significantly better, and even though Mustaine is a better player than pretty much any of those bros, those first four Metallica records are very fucking hard to beat, no matter what came later.

problem IMO is that the initial Metallica run is one of the greatest of any act ever

Sum up what's great about Metallica in a concise number of records in a very small period of time = near untouchable

Rust in Peace is really by far the the best version of Megadeth as a band and their best album. Marty Friedman is a wizard.

Mustaine & co. = a better and generally more interesting person
--Shakey Mo Collier

Doubt anyone would agree with this these days.

Peace Sells... and Rust in Peace are fantastic records. Killing is My Business... and So Far, So Good... are records with a few amazing songs and just as much (if not more) dross. That said, I am about to revisit Megadeth's catalog for the first time in several years (Mustaine's extramusical carrying-on actually made me give up on his music, something that very rarely happens), and the last time I listened to the early records it was the 2004 remasters which I remember reading he worked over quite a bit - putting in new vocals and stuff - so I'm curious how the original versions are gonna hit me.

I kinda wish I'd seen them in their glory years - I didn't get to see Megadeth live until they were touring in support of The System Has Failed, with both Drover brothers and James MacDonough on bass. Then (because I was working at Roadrunner) I saw them two more times with the Poland/Ellefson/Drover lineup. First time was great, second time not so much (sound problems).