Daily writing prompt
What’s your all-time favorite album?
If you asked me this question in the middle of last year, I would’ve listed a handful of my favorites instead of naming just one album: Core by Stone Temple Pilots, Yourself or Someone Like You by Matchbox 20, Moving Pictures by Rush.
But things changed last summer. To help kick my exercise plans into gear, I dived back into the world of metal, something I’d shockingly forgotten about for the majority of my twenties. As a teenager, I listened to a lot of Metallica and Megadeth. I listened to Holy Wars… The Punishment Due and Hanger 18 over and over again. Yet I had never listened to the entirety of Rust In Peace.
I loaded up my Spotify and hit the play button. I already knew the two starting songs, but soon Take No Prisoners graced my ears. The blistering riffs, the synchronized shouts of the band, and the brutal lyrics blew my mind.
Next up? Five Magics. From Dave Ellefson’s spooky bass line to Dave Mustaine’s chugging riffs and Marty Friedman’s insane solos, I can’t help but to love every second of this song. I don’t really like headbanging, but the verse where the band chants “Give me sorcery” does the trick for me.
The rest of the album is incredible. Mustaine hangs out with a ghost named Lucretia in his attic, and a nuclear weapon states its case in Rust In Peace… Polaris. Best of all, my favorite break-up song of all time, Tornado of Souls, is the seventh track on the album. Full disclosure: Friedman’s masterpiece of a solo has made me cry on more than one occasion. It’s perfect.
I plan on diving deeper into the songs at a later date, but in the meantime: Give Rust In Peace a listen. It’s now my favorite album of all-time.
Hayden Seay 