Countdown to Extinction is the fifth studio album by American thrash metal band Megadeth, released on July 6, 1992 through Capitol Records. It was the group's second studio release to feature the "classic" lineup of Dave Mustaine, Marty Friedman, David Ellefson and Nick Menza, with all of them contributing to songwriting on the album. The album features some of the band's best known songs such as "Symphony of Destruction", "Sweating Bullets" and "Skin o' My Teeth", which enjoyed significant chart success and made great musical impact. Countdown to Extinction received positive reaction from music critics, who noted its politically oriented Read more on Last.fm.
Scott Ian perfectly described Megadeth as “almost like a jazz band playing metal” (see 2:17 here: http://youtu.be/jE2qBMv1d1E). While Peace Sells is probably Mustaine’s single greatest contribution as a metalhead, here, I would argue, is his greatest as a songsmith. “Sweating Bullets” isn’t just a call-and-response blues-metal onslaught (like Thorogood’s Destroyers on a meth binge), but everything is played to absolute perfection (THAT SOLO!!!). I’ve never heard a band tighter or more in the pocket with one another. And this isn’t studio magic, mind you … these dudes are just some of the most insanely proficient instrumentalists ever. Maybe jazz isn’t the best analogy, then; perhaps Mustaine is the headbanger’s Bach. Countdown shows a refined (almost) pop edge, and it’s a place ‘Deth would never occupy as successfully again. Also, I’d like to posit here that Dave Mustaine is one of the top five best guitarists of all time … certainly he’s the most underrated. Start here and work backward, guitarphiles, and tell me Mustaine’s fretwork doesn’t flat knock your jaw loose.
This is one of the few times I’ll give Mustaine 5 stars. His voice, for once, sounds halfway decent (okay, okay….it sounds pretty good actually). The riffs are ALL keepers. The songs are a great combination of radio ready (lets copy The Black Album) thumpers and lengthy workouts. This strategy really payed off for Mustaine on Countdown. This is definetly Megadeths answer to Metallicas first flirtations with the mainstream….and their only good one at that.