By the start of the ’90s, Megadeth were on track to dominate heavy metal. After all, 1990’s Rust in Peace garnered stellar sales and press reviews, with the corresponding Clash of the Titans tour — featuring Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax — further bolstering their hegemony.
Plus, as he confessed to Guitar School in 1993, Megadeth mastermind Dave Mustaine was finally getting “stone sober” after years of addiction to marijuana, cocaine, cigarettes, heroin, and other vices.
At the same time, however, the meteoric rise of grunge meant that metal was becoming “the red-headed stepchild of the music industry” (as Mustaine postulated to Goldmine in 2012).
Although they faced some industry pressure to follow the tides, Mustaine told Patch.com the same year, Megadeth chose instead to “follow [their] hearts and do what [they] thought was right.” That turned out to be an “experiment[ally] . . . melodic, though not commercial, metal record” — Countdown to Extinction — which soon became their most financially prosperous LP to date.
Three decades later, Countdown to Extinction endures as Megadeth’s greatest amalgamation of trademark thrash attitude/aptitude and welcoming accessibility. Granted, earlier releases like Rust in Peace and 1986’s Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? are often more beloved by fans and critics (as seen on Heavy Consequence’s own ranking of the band’s albums). Yet, no other Megadeth collection — or, honestly, any heavy metal collection in general — has ever achieved the same sort of remarkable balance, making it both a “timely and timeless” creation (as Mustaine once assessed).
Titled after a Time article drummer Nick Menza was reading, Countdown to Extinction saw the return of the classic Rust in Peace line-up: Mustaine, Menza, guitarist Marty Friedman, and bassist David Ellefson. Likewise, Max Norman was promoted from mere mixer to co-producer, and in contrast to the Mustaine-led direction of the prior four efforts, the whole band — as well as Norman — contributed significantly to the songwriting and/or other aspects.