Countdown to Extinction

Countdown to Extinction is the fifth studio album by the American heavy metal band Megadeth. It was released on July 14, 1992 through Capitol Records. Countdown to Extinction is Megadeth's best-selling album, eventually achieving double platinum status. The album also produced the band's most successful hit singles, "Symphony of Destruction", "Sweating Bullets", "Skin O' My Teeth" and "Foreclosure of a Dream", videos were made for all singles and also for "High Speed Dirt".

Countdown to Extinction was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 1993 Grammy Awards and the title track of the album won the Humane Society's Genesis Award, making Megadeth the only heavy metal band to be given this honor.

Production and marketing

Countdown to Extinction was the second album featuring the Dave Mustaine/Dave Ellefson/Nick Menza/Marty Friedman line-up. It was produced by Mustaine and Max Norman at The Enterprise in Burbank, California. It was pre-produced by Ryan Greene.

The band's change in musical style meant that many songs on the album follow a more traditional hard rock structure, with verses and choruses (unlike many of the band's previous albums). The album is the band's most commercially successful album to date.

Reception

In October 2011, the album was ranked number six on Guitar World magazine's top ten list of guitar albums of 1992.^[4]

Lyrical themes

Like its predecessor, many of the songs on the album have political and military undertones. For example, "Symphony of Destruction" is a song about military dictators, "Architecture of Aggression" focuses on the military-industrial complex, and "Ashes in Your Mouth" concentrates on the negative aftermaths of war ("sweet taste of vindication, it turns to ashes in your mouth"). In a similar vein, "Psychotron" details a merciless cyborg killing machine of the same name, and is based on the Marvel comic book character Deathlok. Other political songs include "Captive Honour", a song about prison and the consequences of crime, "Countdown to Extinction", a song about canned hunts (which many believed was a jab at Metallica frontman James Hetfield and his love for hunting), and "Foreclosure of a Dream", a song that looks at rise and fall of political and economic ideologies, which also includes the infamous 1988 "Read my lips" quote by George H. W. Bush (and on a more personal level, about Ellefson's parents who allegedly lost their jobs under the Reagan Administration). The title song "Countdown To Extinction" also won Megadeth the Humane Society of the United States "Genesis Award" for its dealings with issues of animal welfare.

The rest of the songs' undertones are more spread around. "Skin o' My Teeth" is about Mustaine's numerous attempts at suicide but "just couldn't get the fucking job done" as Mustaine said during a 1992 concert. "Sweating Bullets" has been referred to be about schizophrenia. Before the song is performed, Mustaine tells the audience it's about schizophrenia and has described it as a song "about me... and me." "This Was My Life" refers to a failing relationship where that despite wanting to kill your spouse, you'll be sent to the electric chair regardless for your actions. The slow melodic section at the end of "This Was My Life" is the same chord progression as Mustaine's contribution to the breakdown section in the middle of his former band Metallica's "Phantom Lord" from Kill 'Em All. "High Speed Dirt" is about skydiving.

Cover versions and usage

Cover versions

• "Symphony of Destruction" by Arch Enemy, on the EP Dead Eyes See No Future.
• "Symphony of Destruction" by Michael Angelo Batio, on the album Hands Without Shadows 2 – Voices.
• "Symphony of Destruction" by Nightwish, on the single The Siren.
• "Symphony of Destruction" by Paul Di'Anno (formerly of Iron Maiden), on the album The Living Dead.
• "Skin o' My Teeth" by Kalmah, on the album They Will Return.
• "Sweating Bullets" by Eyes of the Dead on their EP "Lets Play Drink the Beer!!"

Video games

• Guitar Hero (a cover version of "Symphony of Destruction")
• WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006 ("Symphony of Destruction (Steve Tusher Remix)")
• FlatOut 2 ("Symphony of Destruction")
• Guitar Hero 5 ("Sweating Bullets", plus a master recording of "Symphony of Destruction" was released as part of the Megadeth track pack on both this game and Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock)
• Brütal Legend ("High Speed Dirt")
• Full Auto 2: Battlelines ("Symphony of Destruction")

Reissues

In August, 2004, Capitol Records released a remastered version for ordinary compact disc playback systems, with four bonus tracks.

According to the 2004 remastered version liner notes, Mustaine was upset with the album only reaching number two on the charts (behind Billy Ray Cyrus), and thus set out to make a number one album.

In June, 2006, two audiophile remasters of the album were released, an Ultradisc II Gold CD version by the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, and a 180 gram vinyl 2LP version, both mixed by Dave Mustaine.

Track listing

Personnel

In popular culture

Parts of the opening lyrics of Captive Honour ("Kill a man and you're a murderer, kill many and you're a conqueror, kill them all, you're a god") are in fact a quote from the French biologist and philosopher Jean Rostand ("On tue un homme, on est un assassin. On en tue des millions, on est un conquérant. On les tue tous, on est Dieu").

Charts

Album

Singles

RIAA Certifications

References

External links

• Megadeth official site