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Track Listing: Last Rites/Loved to Death Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good! The Skull Beneath The Skin These Boots Rattlehead Chosen Ones Looking Down The Cross Mechanix

June 1985: Megadeth releases their debut album, "Killing is My Business..." on Combat Records. It is well received by both underground and mainstream music critics, and puts Megadeth on the path to fame.

"Killing is my Business..." opens with the track "Last Rites/Loved to Death", which opens with an interesting neo-classical piano intro, with guitar and bass accompaniment. The song then transitions into a fast-paced, scattered, and almost confusing arrangement. I say it's confusing simply because it follows a formula I've never really heard before. Everything is bouncing around like a super-ball in a big room. Nothing is really steady, and everything is literally all over the place. This formula makes for an incredibly interesting, and seriously kick-ass song. The riffs, heavy. The bass, thumping, the drums, pounding. Mustaine's vocals are very interestingly arranged on this song. The only way I can describe this song is like an incredibly fast and jerky roller-coaster you don't want to stop. This song features a killer solo, with a decent length, but it's a bit sloppy, and really doesn't make much sense at all. The song transitions back into it's insanity and ends a little abruptly. This track is somewhat long with a running time of 4 minutes and 42 seconds. A decent opening track.

The title track, "Killing is My Business....and Business is Good!" is where the album gets a little more interesting. It opens with the standard hums and rings of the amplifiers, and transitions into a funky little bit before moving into a more standard thrash formula. Honestly, the musicianship on this track isn't super amazing, but it's pretty good. Nothing is certain with Megadeth, and this track proves it. This song moves in and out from super fast bits to slower more methodical pieces with standard trills and pulloffs, chugs, and other assorted guitar tricks to keep the sound(at the time) fresh. The only shred of a solo this song features is over a chorus towards the end of the song. While it's a good solo, the placement could have been thought out a little better. Overall, another decent track.

I'd be remiss if I didn't include their infamous cover of Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots(were made for walkin'.)" This track is great if you want a good laugh. The instrumentation on this track is superb, and Mustaine's alteration to the lyrics are brilliant. So brilliant, in fact, they offended the songs original writer, Lee Hazlewood. Hazlewood declared that Mustaine's alterations were "vile and offensive", and demanded that the track be pulled from the album. Of course, the band obliged and removed the track from later pressings of the album, fearing legal recourse. Mustaine added the track to the 2002 re-master, only this time, it was heavily censored with the classic censor "beep". Given it's history, hilarity, and awesome musicianship, this track is one for the record books.

In all honesty, this is a great album. It put Megadeth on the map in the early days of thrash, but with a horribly limited recording/production budget(with half of it going to the bands less than needed frivolities) it's a lot worse than it should have been. The band produced it themselves which was the main problem. It really shows. Don't get me wrong. I love this album, but in comparison to the albums Megadeth released after "Killing is My Business", this really isn't their best work. But, even the dirtiest diamonds can be polished. Something Mustaine realized in 2002, when the album received a much needed re-mastering.

Overall, I give this album a 6.5/10, with points deducted for the production quality.