When, back in 2002, ‘Killing is my business… and business is good’ was rereleased via Loud Records, the set featured an mostly-acceptable remastering job, stellar liner notes and a handful of bonus tracks (three demos, all of which are included here). This latest version, ‘the final kill’, replaces the remaster with a full-blown remix (courtesy of Mark Lewis), ditches the majority of the liner notes and adds seven live tracks of variable quality to the track list. With the cover now a fully-fleshed out 3d sculpture and the whole thing housed in a rather attractive, if svelte, digipack, Megadeth’s long-lauded debut has never looked or sounded better.
Listening now to ‘Killing is my business…’, the sheer scale of Mustaine’s ambition remains awe-inspiring. Booted out of a band with which he’d sought to make his name and, to add insult to injury, relieved of a remarkable selection of songs in the process, Mustaine was out for blood on this searing debut, but it was hamstrung by a muddled, tinny production that blunted the razor edge of the guitars.This new version, as far as possible, addresses that concern and, as ‘Last Rites / Loved to Deth’ leaps from the speakers it’s with a remarkable clarity hitherto only guessed at. Where, with some classic albums, an unintended production trope can add to the atmosphere (see David Bowie’s work on ‘Raw Power’), here it’s hard to see anyone making a case for the previous versions and, rendered in brilliant detail, Dave’s guitar playing simply astounds, as if hearing it for the first time.
Fans of the band know the deal – eight songs (one of which is a gonzo cover of ‘these boots), dealt with blistering speed by a band who spent most of their time fucked off their faces and a guitarist / singer whose sole objective was to eclipse the band that had dismissed him so egregiously. All the elements that make Megadeth great are here right from the outset, and Mark Lewis’ exemplary mixing brings it all to the fore, the epic title track blazing away with a heroic might that a certain other band’s debut never even comes close to matching. Better still is the thunderous thrash workout of ‘the skull beneath the skin’, the solos scarring the surface of the track where before they seemed trapped deep within the mix. Moreover, Dave Ellefson’s bass work is given the attention it deserves, revealing just how far ahead of the curve Megadeth truly were back in 1985. By the time you get to ‘Rattlehead’, you’ll be convinced that Dave and his gang have sneakily re-recorded the album from scratch, such is the remarkable transformation that has taken place, and there’s a strong argument that ‘Killing is my business…’ now has the sonic clout to stand alongside the band’s classic albums.
With the album flying by at a ferocious pace, ‘chosen ones’ is another example of the naked aggression that Dave could deploy, albeit an aggression tempered by some of the finest guitar work of the thrash canon. ‘Looking down the cross’ still sounds sinister as hell with Dave’s unhinged guitar work giving way to an creeping atmosphere that finds its inspiration in Jerry Goldsmith’s feted score to ‘The Omen’. The only track to cross swords directly with a certain well-known thrash behemoth is ‘mechanix’, the original (and superior) version of ‘the four horseman’. Played lightning fast, ‘mechanix’ benefits from Gar’s intuitive sense of swing and Dave’s fretboard razing guitar work, the remix bringing out the untrammelled fury that sits at the song’s core. Of the eight tracks on the album, the least essential is surely ‘these boots’ (especially as this is not the original version, complete with ‘obscene’ lyrics) and, although Dave’s sneering delivery is loaded with irony, the song itself just cannot match the depth and originality of the song-writing elsewhere, although it still proves a satisfyingly over-the-top conclusion.
With only a single disc in the set, the bonus tracks are tacked on the end, a practice I roundly hate, although I can understand it as a financial measure. First up (and additional to what was included on the remaster) are seven live tracks which basically cover the album, minus ‘these boots’, in sequence and recorded at a host of different locations. ‘Last Rites / Loved to deth’ is taken from a 1987 London show and sounds like a fairly bad bootleg, although it does a good job of demonstrating that the band’s demonic performance in the studio was no mere fluke. The album’s title track dates even further back, to a 1986 show in Denver and it has a clearer sound, as well as a typically hot-headed introduction from Dave. It’s back to London, this time in 1990, for a muddy rendition of ‘the skull beneath the skin’ and much better is a somewhat hot take on ‘rattlehead’ from Germany in 1987. The final three tracks are taken, once again, from the 1986 Denver show which, judging from Dave’s effusive on-stage chatter must have been a pretty great (possibly chemically enhanced) show. On the whole these live tracks lack sonic depth and are basically pretty poor bootleg quality, but as a historical record of the band’s combustible on-stage personality at that time, they are invaluable and a generous addition to the package. The three demos, previously released in any event, do little other than satisfy any curiosity about Dave’s creative process, but it’s good to have them here as it means that previous editions can be comfortably retired, safe in the knowledge that this truly is the definitive version of a great (and largely underrated) album.
Upon release, ‘Killing is my business…’ set the bar for thrash metal insanely high, but it was let down by a budget production job that buried much of the album’s sonic firestorm. This version not only corrects previous flaws with a sparkling remix, it also adds a generous array of extras with only the excellent liner notes of the previous edition missing in action. Whether you’ve worn your previous copies ragged or never picked up on this album before, this stunning new edition is essential listening for anyone who considers themselves a fan of metal. 9
