Dave Mustaine never lets a chance to burnish his own reputation pass him by, so it’s hardly surprising that this new Megadeth compilation, curated to celebrate 35 years of and spanning three CDs, was hand-picked by the guitar god himself. Handsomely packaged in either digipack or tri-fold vinyl sleeve (see video clip), Warheads on foreheads is a glorious celebration of one of the most consistently excellent back-catalogues in thrash metal’s storied history.
Sequenced chronologically, what impresses is not just how high Dave set the bar right from the outset, but that he rarely let it slip over the years. Even maligned outings such as risk offer up cuts such as the creepy wanderlust, whilst the frankly underrated Super collider offers up the searing kingmaker, although it is somewhat overshadowed by the four tracks offered from 2016’s exceptional dystopia, Dave tacitly making the point that Megadeth are no less powerful a force today as they were when they started. It’s a point well made, and it’s notable just how rare it is for a band to be able to put out a career-spanning compilation that barely dips in quality across three CDs.
Of course, disc one is a masterclass in thrash. The music here is utterly essential in any metalhead’s collection, and although you really should own the majority of these tracks already, it’s good to hear the very cream of early megadeth represented on one disc in this way. From the opening, rampant strains of rattlehead, the first disc sees Megadeth emerge as a ferocious force on raw debut Killing is my business… (which sounds so much better for the remix work done last year), before unleashing the first in a series of classics with the seminal peace sells… and its equally bruising follow up, so far, so good… so what! The disc even finds space to capture the band reaching a peak with the first of a number of cuts from career pinnacle rust in peace. You can practically hear the band evolving over the course of these ten tracks, from the dirty thrill of Mechanix with its punk rush and whirlwind guitar work, to the baroque majesty of holy wars… the punishment due – a track that still ranks as six-and-a-half of the greatest minutes in thrash history. This is a band on a mission to be the fastest, the hardest and most technically devastating of all and succeeding. That said, the disc does miss a trick by ignoring Peace sells’ title track, but inevitably any compilation of such scope is going to miss a few classics along the way.
With the band at the peak of their powers, disc two opens up with a further five tracks from rust in peace, confirming that Dave has reached the same conclusion about that album as the rest of us. The expanded three disc format works in Megadeth’s favour here and it makes sense to include a couple of deeper cuts such as five magics and take no prisoners alongside the more well-worn numbers. The rest of disc two sees Dave and his band consolidating their position with three tracks from countdown to extinction (sadly no architecture of aggression, although sweating bullets remains an unassailable classic) as well as angry again from The Last Action Hero soundtrack. It then ends on a high with a trio of tracks from youthanasia, including the ubiquitous A tout le monde and the crunchy a train of consequences, the latter a sneering, streetwise blast that shows just how little time had softened the edges of Mustaine’s nitro-powered song-writing.
Arguably the most interesting disc, disc three takes the listener on a rapid trip through the band’s latter years and, if Megadeth did not always hit the mark as consistently, it goes to show just how many good tracks there were, even on records not considered part of the band’s classic canon. From 1997’s Cryptic Writings we get remixed versions of the evergreen trust (still used to open shows today) as well as the staccato she wolf, the latter a diamond-edged track which makes good use of Mustaine’s innovative soloing. The eerie Wanderlust may not explode quite so spectacularly, but it shows that risk was not devoid of good moments, although dread and the fugitive mind (from the world needs a hero) does feel like a reboot of sorts, Dave harking back to sweating bullets with the half-spoken into of “let me introduce myself…” kicking off a swirling miasma of heavy riffing. Only one track is included from the system has failed, but it’s a blinder, Dave picking out the album’s crushing opening blackmail the universe. If 2007’s united abominations saw the band coming very much to the fore of the thrash pack with tracks such as Washington is next 2009’s Endgame cemented that feeling and it’s a little odd that Dave would only choose headcrusher to represent one of the finest latter-day ‘deth albums. Similarly, only including public enemy no. 1 from thirt3en feels dismissive of a period when Megadeth’s towering contribution to the world of metal was starting to really be felt, although it serves to underscore Dave’s clear-eyed focus on the present that the compilation finishes with no fewer than four tracks from dystopia, each one a testament to Megadeth’s continuing creative spark and the threat is real shown to be the modern day classic that it is.
Warheads on foreheads is pretty much the definitive Megadeth collection. It takes the listener on a journey across thirty-five years and fifteen albums and it serves as a timely reminder that the band have rarely let their fans down. Even albums that are oft-maligned, notably risk and super collider, are shown to have had their moments and there are no tracks here that could easily be described as skippable, which is no mean feat. Of course, Dave is an astute musician and he’s remained firmly in-tune with his fanbase meaning that he knows which albums to hit hard and which to put on the back burner. As such, the classics are given considerably more space and warheads on foreheads truly emerges as the cream of Megadeth’s extensive back catalogue. Even for those who own all the albums, this condensed display of aggression is a worthy purchase, and whilst it would be nice to have some rarities, this is still a fine celebration. Which band truly wears the thrash metal crown? This thirty-five song epic provides all the answer you’ll ever need. 9.5
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