No other band from thrash's first wave combined airtight songwriting with sheer instrumental mayhem as creatively or skillfully as Megadeth did on Rust in Peace. From the rapid-fire descending lick that kicks off two-part opener "Holy Wars ... the Punishment Due" to the final staccato rhythmic churn of "Rust in Peace ... Polaris," the album is a breathless 40 minutes of Dave Mustaine's finger-twisting, labyrinthine riffage (check out "Poison Was the Cure" for just one of many bonkers examples), snarling war-and-religion obsessed lyrics – "It was a time in the world when the Cold War was still a real issue; we were pointing toward the East with our nukes out," the singer has said – and neck-snapping, shift-on-a-dime arrangements, all of it delivered with fierce, punkish intensity and an unusually nimble rhythmic swing.