Album Description
Megadeth’s 1985 debut, "Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!", doesn’t feel like an “important early work.” It feels like somebody slammed a door, locked it, and started playing faster just to prove a point. I’m looking here at the Netherlands LP (Roadrunner / Music for Nations, RR 9786) — the Euro copy that turns up when you’re digging with purpose instead of doomscrolling marketplaces.
Mustaine had just been booted from Metallica (April 11, 1983), and you can hear that specific kind of spite where the notes don’t just run — they sprint like they’re late to a fight. If you want the clean mythology version, go elsewhere. This record is the messy version: the one that still smells like rehearsal room sweat and bad decisions.
The Birth of a Thrash Masterpiece
The band went into recording with a small budget (Combat put up about $8,000), and the sessions ended up carrying that “we’ll fix it later” chaos right into the grooves. Recorded December 1984 to January 1985 at Indigo Ranch and Crystal Sound Labs, it’s raw in a way that doesn’t ask permission. Mustaine and Karat Faye ended up producing after the original producer got fired — which explains the slightly unvarnished, half-feral edges that make the album feel alive instead of “perfect.”
And the lineup matters. David Ellefson’s bass doesn’t politely support; it stalks the riffs. Gar Samuelson plays like a jazz guy who got dared to drive a stolen car. Chris Poland decorates the violence with weird angles and dissonant little smirks — solos that don’t pose for photos, they lunge.
Netherlands Vinyl Edition: What I Actually Look For
With RR 9786, I don’t treat “unique features” like a press release. I treat them like a checklist at the table: does the inner sleeve match what it should for this copy, what do the center labels look like, what’s etched in the deadwax, how do the credits read, and does the jacket feel like it lived a real life or a cozy one on a shelf. Dutch/European cuts can present a different balance than US copies, but I only trust my ears — not blanket myths.
Tracklist and Iconic Moments
"Last Rites/Loved to Deth" opens with that classical sting and then immediately turns it into a threat. The title track follows with the hired-killer story and that nasty little twist. "The Skull Beneath the Skin" keeps shifting shape like it’s trying to throw you off the scent. And "Mechanix" is the spite cherry on top: a song Mustaine carried through his Metallica days before it got reworked into "The Four Horsemen" on "Kill ’Em All" — which is exactly the kind of petty history that makes metal fun to argue about at 1 a.m.
