Black Album < dog shit
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I'm a fan of Youthanasia personally. Of course Hangar 18 and Holy Wars are classics, but I thought Youthanasia was a good mix of what Megadeth was and what they were going to become. That strand of Rust in Peace, Countdown to Extinction, and Youthanasia were epic.
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To me, those 3 albums are all Marty Friedman. If you have any of the re-issues, you can hear some of the demos Dave cut by himself and they're absolutely not the same.

That's not to say that Marty was the sole creative force because in reality Dave was the only real creative force. It was the effect Marty had on Dave that made those albums special. He brought a polish and musicianship that was really unparalleled at the time, IMO. The thing is, Friedman wasn't a typical thrash guitar player but he also wasn't a traditional neoclassical player, either. Sure, since Malmsteen and Rhoads broke on the scene in the early 80's, all kinds of guys were playing sweeping arpeggios and harmonic minor scales. Friedman took it to a whole new level. He wasn't afraid to mix it up in mixolydian or pull out some exotic Arabian scale. Combine that with some very unconventional phrasing and he was just uber-unique.

Again, you should listen to "Dragon's Kiss". Friedman's solo album is one of the best albums I've ever heard.
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Funnily enough, I was listening to an interview with Marty last night on Sirius. Guess he has a new album getting ready to drop. I knew he had disappeared to Japan, but I didn't know that he's mostly known over there for his TV work rather than his music. Odd considering the Japanese' love for that era of metal.

You're pretty knowledgable about this era, so I assume you're familiar with the Jason Becker story. If not, he was partners with Marty in the band Cacophony when they were still high schoolers. After they split, he went on to replace Vai in David Lee Roth's band. He recorded one album before being diagnosed with ALS. He was told he didn't have long to live but he's still around and he composes music with his eyes, the only part of his body that still works. There's a great documentary called Not Dead Yet about him that I highly recommend. It was on netflix, but apparently isn't anymore. It's worth finding if you can.
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What's even more odd is that the music he has produced since moving to Japan is the furthest thing from metal or neoclassical fusion. It's Japanese music, by and large.

I watched it a couple of weeks ago on Pivot. They gave him 3-5 and he's still alive 22 years later. Amazing!

I was really amazed with his recording methodology. Having his dad play each note slowly on the acoustic and recording it into the computer. Then he arranges it with his eyes and played back, it sounds just like some of the stuff from his Shrapnel days. He can still SHRED!

I was actually waiting for an opportune moment to bring it up but you beat me to it.
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I remember Becker and cacophony before Friedman joined megadeth. Good stuff. I'll have to check out that documentary.
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It'd be nice if you bought it:

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I've always preferred Megadeth more. I think their first song that ever struck me was the remake they did of Anarchy in the UK, I remember hearing it on Headbangers Ball. Up till tht point my musical taste was on the lighter side of the hard rock genre. Symophany of Destruction might be the single best FPS game soundtrack ever invented.
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I stopped listening to Megadeth at Sweating Bullets.
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I thought people stopped listening to both Metallica and Megadeth after age 15.
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I started out on Megadeth, almost in protest over the popularity of Metallica in 1986. Master of Puppets was owning the world, and Peace Sells was big, but not as big. So I settled on Megadeth. Over the years, my Metallica love has certainly grown, but it all ended after the Black album, which I really regard as a great album...then they went all...goofy. Megadeth is indeed still Megadeth. I'm 43, so I don't really pay much attention to it all anymore, but I definitely have strong affectionate memories of cruising Dodge street, windows open, stereo blasting Peace Sells...goddam great times!
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would've been cool if James let Newsteads's bass come through at Justice.

that entire record has no bass; or at least, I can't hear any.
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I have a personal reason for preferring Metallica beyond the music... back when they had just broken off from opening for Ozzy because Master was blowing up, I got to see them on the very first leg of their tour headlining career at the Decatur, Ill civic center.

No seating all standing, it was the stage with no barricade whatsoever and a row of dudes in front of me and my bud, I was basically right there in front of the stage... so they go offstage for a quick break, when they come back out they're all carrying huge plastic cups of beer, so Burton see's me and my pal hitting on a smokeless "baseball bat" type pipe and with a big grin leans out and gives it to us... other guys were trying to grab for it, but nope, he wanted to make sure we got it.

The show was just mindblowing being right there like that, a true sonic assault, I'd been to several concerts, but never to anything SO heavy, THAT type of heavy was brand new where I come from at the time, and never SO close to the stage... it was just FURIOUS from start to finish, I'll never forget how often Lars had to huff on his oxygen mask just to keep up.
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I love the song Peace Sells But Who's Buying.
it always gets me to crank it up.
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and Mustaine blows away Hetfield on guitar in every possible way.
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