Megadeth / So Far, So Good... So What! 1988. 4.5/5

I had moved on to university by the time this album was released, and was all the more excited because of it. To this point in time I had only had Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good! (as finding anywhere that imported Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? in those days was ridiculous) and I couldn’t wait to have new Megadeth material to feast my ears upon. The differences between the first two albums and this are noticeable, and some find it is too much to bear. On the other hand, there are songs here that are incomparable and still stand the test of time thirty years on.

The opening of So Far, So Good... So What! is once again once of the big strengths of the album, setting the tone from the outset. The instrumental “Into the Lungs of Hell” is a beauty, showcasing the renewed vigour of replacement guitarist Jeff Young into the fold along with drummer Chuck Behler. In the days where the one-upmanship between Megadeth and Metallica was at its height, it’s hard to say whether or not Dave Mustaine felt the need to create his own instrumental in order to counter what Metallica had done with “The Call of Ktulu” and “Orion” on their recent albums. Whatever the reason it is a great way to open up here. This segues wonderfully into the thrashing rites of “Set the World Afire” which starts out hard and ends in a flurry of Mustaine’s vocals spitting out fire and flame. I’ve always loved these opening two tracks and they are as good now as they were back when this was released.
The closing tracks to Side One of the album have not held the same love affair for me. The cover of Sex Pistols “Anarchy in the U.K.”, with the U.S.A. substituted in conveniently when necessary in the lyrics, is okay, but it doesn’t really have any of the fire and spirit you would expect from a band trying to add their own personality to it. It is the third cover song in successive albums from Megadeth and this is probably the lamest version of the three. This is followed by “Mary Jane”, and for the most part I find that the whining and warbling of the lyrics tends to harm the output of the song. It’s not a bad track by any stretch of the imagination, but it just isn’t up to the high standard you (or at least I) would expect.
“502” kick-starts the second half of the album off in style with a better rendition of what you expect from the Megadeth sound, though the middle section with transfer of the song to a car’s stereo does sometimes get in the way. I love the riff progression and spitting lyrics which starts off “Liar”, in many ways it is the favourite part of the album. I also enjoy the way it ends abruptly, because charging straight into the finale of “Hook in Mouth”. Mustaine loves a rant, and these two songs are ranting at their best.
The star attraction of the album is “In My Darkest Hour”, which along with the previous album’s “Wake Up Dead” are the two best songs from the 1980’s Megadeth releases. “In My Darkest Hour” has the most mature sound from the band to this point, with clear and distorted guitars combined with both mournful vocals and harsh anger, and combines the raw heavy metal with a distilled thrash sound towards the end that makes this a unique song for the band and the genre to this point.
There’s a lot going on here and the album has divided fans opinion ever since its release. Some feel this was a weak album with the band throwing aside most of its thrash tendencies in an effort to find more credibility and commercial bent. Others believe it is a landmark, a crossing of the divide from the first two albums to what would eventually become their masterpiece, Rust in Peace. Once Mustaine fired both Young and Behler he was critical of their contribution and of the album itself which probably didn’t help to win it any fans or any favour.

Clearly the majority of those people who are young and looking back at this album having not grown up with it are seeing flaws in the songs and the production, and that is not necessarily an incorrect view from that perspective. Judging this against an album such as Endgame one could see many differences that would colour their perspective. On the other hand, I grew up with this album from the age of 18, and I played this to death when I first bought it on vinyl, and I loved every square inch of it. I spat lyrics at the mirror imitating Mustaine and perhaps overlooked a couple of things that could have been ‘less strong’. But even taking those into consideration, this album deserves the respect it has earned, and I for one still love putting this on and singing along at high screeching volume.

Rating:  “No survivors, set the world afire!”  4.5/5