Megadeth - Killing Is My Business...& Business Is Good - The Final Kill
Sony
https://www.megadeth.com/
Formats: CD/Vinyl/Streaming

Rating: A

A lot of hay is being made today about the demise of the CD. Vinyl has made a surprising comeback, but despite the facts and figures being touted about vinyl sales, it is still a niche market and will remain so.

The format that surprisingly had the shortest 'shelf life' was the download, which has been supplanted almost entirely by streaming. Streaming is king, queen and knave in today's world and will ever be so, especially after they start installing direct stream receptors in our brains.

Where does this leave the CD? The CD will remain as a strong, slightly more than niche market for two main reasons: recording, mixing and mastering technology has caught up with the spectacular sound quality that the CD potentially offers, and CDs are WAY cheaper to produce than vinyl LPs.

CDs have been a cash cow for record companies because, when the format first emerged in the early 80s, they rushed out as many CD versions of classic albums as they could with little regard for, or ability to tweak, the sound to fit the format.  They also put practically zero effort to reproduce the album art and liner information adequately.

This, of course, has led to the phenomenon of the Deluxe CD reissue. Re-releasing classic albums with remastered (and often remixed) sound, along with oodles of bonus demos, outtakes and live tracks, as well as extensive liner notes and pictures, is a big part of the business...and business is good.

Released in 1985, Megadeth's debut album Killing Is My Business...& Business Is Good was a landmark album of the Thrash Metal genre. Admittedly not a genre I spend a great deal of time (none) listening to, but If I needed some motivation to paint my entire house in one day, I would probably throw this album on and set it for repeat.

In 1985 KIMBABIG received a simultaneous LP/CD release (although, back then CDs tended to come out a week after the vinyl) and by today's standards the CD sounded murky and terrible.

The album was reissued on CD only in 2002 with a censored version of "These Boots" moved to the end of the album, plus three demos and little improvement to the sound.

Now, in 2018, Megadeth's long-suffering fans have been rewarded with a new, definitive version of the album titled Killing Is My Business...& Business Is Good - The Final Kill.

For this release, the album has been given a complete sonic overhaul courtesy of acclaimed producer Mark Lewis. Lewis applied a pressure washer to the original mix, delivering a crisp sound that allows the bass to come through, but not so clean that it sounds like Metal mixed in Dobly.

The new version keeps "These Boots" as track 8 but this edition sports a brand new vocal which sticks to the original Lee Hazlewood lyrics, eliminating any need for censoring (was there one?).

In addition to the three previously released demos, The Final Kill is packed to the rafters with seven additional live tracks from the era recorded from shows in the UK, Germany and Denver.

The eighteen tracks on Killing Is My Business...& Business Is Good - The Final Kill are available in a 2-LP vinyl package that will cost the average thrasher nearly $60 while those same tracks fit neatly on a single CD for twelve bucks. Or you could be like your kids and just stream it, I'm sure Dave Mustaine will appreciate that extra nickel at Christmas time.

Your choice.

Killing Is My Business...& Business Is Good - The Final Kill
1.         "Last Rites/Loved to Deth
2.         "Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!"     
3.         "The Skull Beneath the Skin"
4.         "Rattlehead"
5.         "Chosen Ones"
6.         "Looking Down the Cross"     
7.         "Mechanix"     
8.         "These Boots" (vocals re-recorded with original Lee Hazlewood lyrics)       
9.         "Last Rites/Loved to Deth" (live, 1987 London, UK)  
10.       "Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!" (live, 1986 Denver, CO)  
11.       "The Skull Beneath the Skin" (live, 1990 London, UK)         
12.       "Rattlehead" (live, 1987 Bochum, Germany)            
13.       "Chosen Ones" (live, 1986 Denver, CO)       
14.       "Looking Down the Cross" (live, 1986 Denver, CO)
15.       "Mechanix" (live, 1986 Denver, CO)
16.       "Last Rites/Loved to Deth" (demo)
17.       "The Skull Beneath the Skin" (demo)            
18.       "Mechanix" (demo)

By Eric Sandberg (with the invaluable assistance of Ray Meinert)