Welcome to Metal Mondays, Wagner. This one’s for you because it has a million notes played really fast. According to The Onion, we should just give up on this art thing all together because Megadeth already created Rust in Peace.
https://www.theonion.com/humanity-still-producing-new-art-as-though-megadeth-s-1819578062
I won’t go that far, but I do feel that Rust In Peace is the apex of popular, complex metal. Certainly bands like Dream Theater would write more complex metal, but it wouldn’t be as popular. And Pantera would sell more albums, but their music wouldn’t be as complex. It’s also the last time that you could be in a metal band without reckoning with death metal, black metal, and grunge. Despite debuting in 1990, it’s probably the last big 80s metal album (give or take a Skid Row). Since all songs are in standard tuning, Rust in Peace sounds almost chipper and upbeat compared to the detuned sludge that would come later in the decade.
I find Dave Mustaine hilarious. He was so drunk in the 1980s that he got kicked out a band nicknamed “Alcoholica” and then tried to get back at them by playing better rhythm than their rhythm guitarist, and better lead than their lead guitarist. He’s also a born again Christian conservative, but he hates war. And he won’t sing some of his 80s songs because he thinks they use real Black Magic. Cool guy.