Symphony of Destruction

Like many of the titans of thrash who, after helping invent the genre back in the early 1980s, underwent a period of indecisive soul-searching in the early 90s, Megadeth, starting with the well-known Countdown to Extinction album, began to tweak their sound to include more commercial elements and more streamlined compositions. The band’s new output largely dropped the epic build-ups, free-styling structures and frantic riff orgies of the past in favor of more concise songwriting that got to the point a whole lot faster, emphasizing catchiness over complexity. This altered approach resulted in tracks that were clearly more accessible and melodic but, in many instances, also less captivating.

That being said, “Symphony of Destruction” is easily one of the defining and best-known songs on 1992’s Countdown to Extinction, prompting the band to release it as a single the same year the album proper came out. It received quite a bit of TV airplay back in the day, making the rounds on MTV’s Headbangers Ball and like-minded formats, and it’s easy to see why. If there is one track where the band’s newly adopted songwriting formula works nearly to perfection, it would be this one. Most everyone has heard this song and there’s not much that hasn’t been said about it a thousand times already: the main riff is gargantuan—easily one of the most instantly recognizable ones in all of heavy metal—, the chorus is effective, Dave’s vocals are vitriolic and the lyrics about the seductive and corrupting properties of political power are both thoughtful and forever relevant.

Of course, the real value of this extended single lies in the two B-sides, namely “Go to Hell” and “Breakpoint.” The latter is one of the more fast-paced, energetic cuts from this stage of the band’s career. It’s short and to the point, with a pissed-off attitude, hard-hitting riffs and this admittedly rather awesome spoken part toward the end which, lyrically, is just classic Megadave on every level:
“In my opinion as a professional I recommend
We straight-jacket the son of a bitch
Lock him in a rubber room
Sedate him, heavily
And when he wakes up,
If he wakes up, we’ll see
If he can be a nice boy”

Doctor Dave certainly knows best. Last but not least, “Go to Hell” is another hidden gem that would have ranked among the very best cuts on Countdown to Extinction. It kicks off with a bad-ass bass intro before evolving into kind of a throwback Megadeth song very much in the vein of the band’s earlier albums. It’s a heavy mid-paced thrasher boasting another awesome vocal performance by Dave, who sounds downright evil in places, as well as ultra-aggressive, slightly unhinged or chaotic riffing and soloing reminiscent of Peace Sells… or So Far, So Good… So What! It would be quite some time before the band released another tune as raging and angry as this. Oh, and did I mention that bad-ass bass intro? Man, that bass intro is ever so sweet!

The early 1990s aren’t remembered as a particularly prolific time in the annals of thrash metal, and rightfully so. By and large, however, Dave “Megadave” Mustaine initially proved quite successful in steering his band through some very rough waters before finally succumbing to the epidemic of mediocrity with 1994’s Youthanasia. While Countdown to Extinction was already a step down from the earlier classics, it was still a good record and worthy addition to the band’s catalog, and the Symphony of Destruction single brings us two strong non-album tracks that manage to outshine some of the material on Countdown… and provide value that goes way beyond that of mere nostalgia.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10 points

This song has always been a favored whipping boy by Thrash purists due to its commercial success and because it resembles a similar slowness and simplicity as that was exhibited by Metallica on the Black Album. The main riff has the catchiness factor applied so strongly that it draws comparisons to “Iron Man” and “Smoke on the Water”, along with the famed Metallica commercial breakthrough “Enter Sandman”, although MegaDeth has avoided the trap of allowing their guitar solos to become comical and their riffs to get overly repetitive.

Like many others, I obtained the European release a few years back, which included “Breakpoint” and “Go to Hell”. Although these songs are also found on “Hidden Treasures”, which I also possess, their inclusion on this single hints that Dave was in fact attempting to one-up his former band mates in the sales department, as these songs are a bit more thrash oriented, but contain similar moments of commercial cheese that was in high demand at the time. “Breakpoint” is probably the last truly speed oriented song put out by Deth before going towards the mid-tempo style of “Youthanasia”, which still endures to this day. Minus the goofy “Now I lay me down to sleep” spoken part, “Go to Hell” is also a fun song, and takes my pick for the best track off the Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey soundtrack, a movie that like its predecessor is a guilty pleasure of mine.

All in all, pretty commercial, but a good listening experience all the same. Since Hidden Treasure has gone out of print, the value of this particular version of the single is a bit higher to those looking for songs not found on the primary studio releases. 1992 was not a particularly good year for the Metal genre, especially the thrash genre, but as always there are some exceptions and this is one of them.