Countdown to Extinction

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Template:Album infobox Countdown to Extinction is a music album by Megadeth, released in 1992 (see 1992 in music).

According to the liner notes of the 2004 remastered version, Dave Mustaine considers this to be Megadeth's best work.

Contents

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Musical style

Following up the band's 1990 technical masterpiece Rust in Peace, and perhaps in response to the 1991 Metallica self-titled album, Megadeth decided to follow a hard rock format with Countdown.

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Production and marketing

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

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Songs

The band's change in musical style meant that many songs on the album follow a more traditional structure, with verses and choruses (unlike many of the band's previous albums). This format change was unpopular with some fans at the album's release, however the album turned out to be one of the band's most commercially successful.

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 complexity of military operations, 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, 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 Bush, Sr (and on a more personal level, about Ellefson's parents who lost their jobs under the Reagan Administration).

The rest of the songs' undertones are more spread around. "Skin O' My Teeth" is about numerous attemps at suicide but "just couldn't get the job done" as Mustaine said during a 1992 concert. "Sweating Bullets" is about schizophrenia. "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. "High Speed Dirt" is about skydiving.

The song "Symphony of Destruction" was covered by the band Arch Enemy on the album Dead Eyes See No Future

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Track listing

  1. "Skin O' My Teeth" - 3:13
  2. "Symphony of Destruction" - 4:02
  3. "Architecture of Aggression" - 3:34
  4. "Foreclosure of a Dream" - 4:17
  5. "Sweating Bullets" - 5:03
  6. "This Was My Life" - 3:42
  7. "Countdown to Extinction" - 4:16
  8. "High Speed Dirt" - 4:12
  9. "Psychotron" - 4:42
  10. "Captive Honour" - 4:14
  11. "Ashes in Your Mouth" - 6:10
  12. "Crown of Worms" - 3:17 *
  13. "Countdown to Extinction" (demo) - 3:55 *
  14. "Symphony of Destruction" (demo) - 5:29 *
  15. "Psychotron" (demo) - 5:28 *

* bonus tracks on 2004 remaster

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Personnel

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