Megadeth - Youthanasia (1994)

Megadeth's, 'Youthanasia' was the first album I had ever looked forward to hearing/owning. What I mean with this statement is that I had (sometime) in '93 established myself as a fan of Megadeth through their album, 'Countdown to Extinction,' but of course that album had already been out for some time. Therefore Youthanasia was my first experience getting excited for new music and purchasing an album from one of my new favorite bands.

I can honestly still remember going to the store the day it was released, searching through the 'M' section, finding it with some pleased sound, running back to the counter and paying for it and quickly getting my ass home to listen to it. And that my friends is a special feeling. One many of you will never know. One you don't care to know. One that doesn't exist any more these days. People prefer files over physical today. A sad world we all live in today, eh?

Youthanasia (a play on the word Euthanasia) continued where Countdown left off and although Megadeth has stuck to the fairly same modern metal/melodic metal/heavy hard rock/whatever since '93, I've always thought this was their finest moment from their post thrash days.

I just love the powerful heavy hitting nature of songs like, 'Reckoning Day' or 'The Killing Road,' and although songs like 'Addicted to Chaos,' 'Elysian Fields' and 'I Thought I Knew It All' are slower in speed, they are ridiculously catchy in delivery. Of course I utterly love, 'Train of Consequences' and the softer almost melancholic at times, 'A Tout Le Monde' is one of Megadeth's finest, which curiously they re-recorded a few years ago with that bitch from Lacuna Coil (but I'll forgive 'em). And holy fuck I love that totally grim intro on, 'Blood of Heroes' and that riff at the beginning of, 'Family Tree' is bloody brilliant, man! The title track and 'Black Curtains' rock pretty hard too and the fast paced closer, 'Victory,' which uses old Megadeth song titles as the basis of the lyrics is insanely awesome as well.

Fifteen years later and this one still remains one of my favs from Megadeth and if you've ever caught these guys live you probably noticed many songs from this album are regular set selections too. Many good moments there, friends.

I think a lot of Megadeth's post thrash stuff is neglected and that's really a shame because unlike their brethren in Anthrax and Metallica they've actually continued to write complex, catchy and genuinely excellent music. If you missed this album give it a shot, kick your local internet music thief in the balls and blast Youthanasia, loud!