05 RUST IN PEACE MEGADETH

(1990)

Marty Friedman’s choice soloing made Megadeth the guitar connoisseur’s favourite thrashers, and he was never in better form than on Rustin Peace. With exotic pentatonic scales and artfully chosen wrong notes, he never sounded predictable but he kept enough blues influence to be accessible.

Standouts like Tornadoofsouls show a vibrato Kirk Hammett could only dream of and a perfect balance of technique and melody. Dave Mustaine isn’t outclassed either – his ‘machine gun’ alternate picking is blistering. He delivered his best riffs and songs to date, and went toe-to-toe with Friedman for Hangar18’ s duelling solos