KILLING IS MY BUSINESS...AND BUSINESS IS GOOD! (Released June 12th 1985)


After his exodus from metallica a couple of years prior, Dave Mustaine quickly regrouped with another set of songs and musicans and kicked out one of the most angry, thrashy, pissed off debuts ever. While not as complex or precise as later albums, it all starts to take shape here with Dave's driving rhythm riffs, lightning fast solos (which Chris Poland also delivers and manages to accentuate Dave's perfectly, probably the greatest team in thrash!) and Gar's primitive sounding yet complex and pumping drumming. The result is an EXCELLENT debut with every song driven by some raw angry energy. The production for the original album is also extremely raw, but this adds to the feel of the album and just makes it grittier and thrashier rather than take away from it.

Last Rites/Loved To Deth: This song has always been one of my favorites. Starting off with a menacing piano intro that works effectively as the calm before the storm and a sweet little guitar lick you get smacked right in the face with a purely blazing thrash riff and some powerhouse drums. Every instrument just sounds so full of power here, from the plodding Bass and on up. Great solos also get delivered from both parties here.

Killing Is My Business...And Business Is Good!: The album continues on with another awesome, although mid paced, thrash with a truely infectious riff thats sure to grab your attention. The solo and Gar's double bass at the end of the song are worth the price of the album alone.

Skull Beneath The Skin: Damn there's some excellent guitar licks that open the songs here. This particular one just sounds so metallic and chaotic I love it! The first solo here absolutely rips too, one of the finest of 'Deths career. The band just fires on all pistons with this one as well its just so tight and angry, instantly you want to bang your head to it. The lyrics here are also some of my favorites done by anyone, pretty neat description of a voodoo ritual that created ol' Vic

These Boots: smurfing dirty! Megadeth just takes this song and truly adds an edge to it and makes it their own, I wouldve never guessed it was the same song aside from some of the lyrics sticking out. The pounding rhythm found here truly just makes you want to get up out of your seat along with another set of awesome solos. I remember when this first came out alot of people had a problem with them covering a Nancy Sinatra tune, but Deth managed to twist it and make it a true original. Its worth picking up the original press to get it. Oh and Lee Hazlewood can go fornicate himself with a railroad spike, maybe now that he's kicked off the uncensored version will be able to resurface again.

Rattlehead: RATTLE YOUR GODDAMN HEAD! One of Megadeth's best songs period. The whole track is some absolutely blazing ass kicking thrash.

Chosen Ones: Ive constantly seen this referred to as a "low" point on the album, but really its one of the neatest track. More tamed down than some of the other songs, it still delivers some excellent riffs and solos that are truly great along with a blasting backing section courtesy of Ellefson and Gar.

Looking Down The Cross: Starting off slow, this song builds up to another great thrasterpiece from the Megaboys. With more tasty chops thrown out and a thundering middle section, another of my favorite tracks.

Mechanix: Yeah yeah so we all know the story about how Metallica took this song and slowed it down and lamed it up into The Four Horsemen. But as for Mechanix itself, just some awesome fast paced thrashing with one hell of a drum performance from Gar and a great riff. Another one of Megadeth's best songs, despite the somewhat juvenile lyrics, but I personally like those as well.

Sorry for any spelling errors, didnt have much time to proofread it.

EDIT: Just a couple of quick notes. The lyrics to Chosen Ones is inspired by Monty Python and The Holy Grail, speciffically the killer rabbit. The title track was inspired by The Punisher.

It's about time.

This album is amazing. It's 1b. to Kill 'Em All's 1a. in terms of debut thrash albums. The title track in my favorite. The rhythm guitar on that song is phenomenal.

I've been chomping at the bit for this discog,(pardon the pun).

This has to be one of the finest thrash albums ever, as a Megadeth fanboy I've listened to this one a lot and still seems like the angriest album Megaman (Dave Mustaine) has ever done. I remember being 5 yrs. old and the piano intro used to scare the crap outta me! Dave has always ragged on the original cover due to the pickles and ketchup added for visual effect. The Mechanix is my fave.

"There are two ways you can hear this next song. There's our way, and then there's their way. For those of you who think this is their way this song is called 'The Mechanix'. ~Dave Mustaine~

A great debut from one of my favorite bands. KIMB is a thrash masterpiece. I have the reissue, so "These Boots" is completely ruined, but it's still a cool little song. The whole record just thrashes like there's no tomorrow!

A cheap, ugly sounding record with with a cheap, ugly album cover. However, I mean that as a compliment. Quite simply, your thrash collection is not complete without a copy of KILLING IS MY BUSINESS!! This was Dave Mustaine at his most unhinged. Nothin' like being young, hopped up on Coke and filled with a burning desire to out-thrash your former band mates, I guess.

This raw unpolished album is a classic and I remember buying it brand new back in 1985. I had to dust off my turntable and dig this album out of my archives. It is the only Megadeth album I have not upgraded to CD.

The intro is very cool and always reminded me of Alice Cooper's 'The Awakening'. Then it kicks off one of the angriest albums in rock history. Dave Mustaine is out for blood.

'The Skull Beneath the Skin' features some excellent leads from Both Mustaine and Chris Poland and I am convinced that Dimebag Darrelll must have spent alot of time with this album.

There is not much I can add that DC has not already said. My fav song on this disc is 'Looking Down on the Cross', Gar's performance in particular stands out.

I had no idea that later pressings had edited 'These Boots', which is very lame considering that the publisher already knew that Megadeth had covered this tune and altered the lyrics.

An excellent debut and the perfect introduction to a band who were determinded to make their own mark on metal history, not just be a footnote in someone elses.

Ahhh Megadeth, a large part of my high school soundtrack. I loved this album when it came out and still love it today for nostalga as much as the music itself. There's some great stuff here amid all the crappy production and I remember literally wearing out my copy not too long after getting it.
A good portion of the lyrics here certainly wouldn't win any literary awards, but they're not too bad in comparison to some other thrash put out during this time frame.

Also, I don't own any of the re-mixed/re-mastered/bastardized Megadeth re-issues so maybe others in this thread could make some comments on the differences between those versions and the originals as there are more than just sound quality differences. (in some cases I believe there are changes and additions)

Love this album! My friend made me a dub of it when I was in highschool. Unfortunately, by the time I finally purchased a copy on cd for myself, the original version with "These Boots" had already been removed and near impossible to find. I eventually upgraded again to the re-issue with the edited version of "Boots". Thankfully I have the Dudes original motion picture soundtrack with the full version intact.

If I had one minor complaint about this album, it's that it's over too quick. Great debut from my favorite metal band.

I heard a song on a Music For Nations comp and went and bought this album. :metal:

Or you could drop your hard on and actually talk about Megadeth.

And, according to Dave that cover had to be approved in the first place, so he knew

Great Debut!Of course it was raw,unpolished,underproduced or whatever adjective you wanna use,but the music was pure angry thrash.Dave came on the scene with a menacing sneer that would have us loving him for years to come.What more can I say,if you're a fan of thrash you should have this in your collection.

My Favorites are Rattlehead,Skull beneath the Skin and Looking Down the Cross

Killing Is My Business is an album that it took me awhile before I "got". When I initially picked it up the production of the album was hard to get used to...in comparison to contemporary releases by Metallica, Slayer, etc. it was incredibly raw. My favorite song initially was Mechanix, which I immediately liked better than the Metallica version. But I'll admit that most of the rest of the album didn't sink in until about a year later..

...then when Peace Sells was released (which I thought was a masterpiece) I went back and really gave KIMB a good long listen and it finally clicked. This early linuep of Megadeth was SO talented, the arrangements are really "out there" for a typical metal band of the time. Lots of start/stop sections, wacky time changes, disjointed/jagged riffs...Megadeth sounds dangerous on these early albums. The secret weapon on these two albums is Gar, his jazz background really opens up the dynamics of the compositions. Plus Poland was a very interesting foil for Mustaine due to his unorthodox approach...Megadeth was a completely unique animal.

Listening to this album in 2009 the sound of the production doesn't bother me any longer...like DeathCult mentioned it just adds to the authenticity. Every track on here is killer and proves that Megadeth already had a large portion of their sound together on the debut. The "looseness" of these first two Deth albums is one of the reasons I'll never get tired of them...I always wished this initial lineup could have held it together a little longer.

Funny how everybody seems to point to the ugly-ass production job on KIMB. Legend has it that the entire album was recorded for about $5000, and of that 5K, approximately half went up the band's noses, so in that light it's amazing they were able to get any usable recordings at all.

GREAT debut album!!! The production sucks, but that is what you got with underground speed metal in the 80's!!!!

While the production is rough I think this is probably the slickest debut from a "big 4" band in terms of song writing. It's very intricate.

I don't like These Boots very much (frankly I don't like any of Megadeth's covers) and I prefer Four Horsemen to Mechanix, but the rest of the album is fantastic.

I could never get as much into KIMB as the albums to come. It's a fine debut, but so much better things would follow. I can appreciate the raw thrash though. Abd I agree that in 1985, these guys were at the top of the thrash metal game.

Best thrash debut ever. I wish Dave could get over that he hasn't sold as well as the 'allica boys 'cause he slays them. Not my favorite 'deth album but a mighty fine one and of course, the anger was in your face.

I dont have time to read what everyone wrote yet but i'll go back to it later. This is one HELL of a Megadeth album. Everything is here speed, killer songs, and great musicians. They all had different musical backgrounds but they made it work to their advantage on this album and it showed everyone what they were able to do. Its a really great album with the exception of These Boots its a perfect 10 all the way. I never understood why they covered that song but it was pretty funny with some of the lyric changes. I really like the remixed version of this album as I think all the instruments are much clearer and the drums sound amazing where as the original sounded a little dull, but I do like either or. Actually from listening to the remasterd versions so much lately I think I miss hearing the originals.

When I first saw the album cover I didnt know what to think. I liked it a little but it definetly wasnt great. Years later I would end up getting this album cover as a back patch for my jacket.

Killing is my business rules, actually all the old Megadeth ruled. This one is not number one in my opinion(peace sells is best IMO), but is still an awesome debut. I love the Sinatra cover of "these boots". This song is a perfect song to turn into a thrash bash because it totally comes off as a f*** you to all the people that would be listeing to that original version at this time. The title track, skull under the skin and boots are my favs off the album. Awesome awesome album....but megadeth s*** gets better(AND worse later sortof), this is just a precursor to some cool things on its way...