Album Battle II

This week we dive into our second album battle between familiar foes Metallica an Megadeth. We had a blast burning this down so tune in and check it out!

Track-by-Track Comparison:

72 Seasons vs. Tipping Point:

• Winner: Split decision.
• Rationale: Tipping Point is a punchier opener, but 72 Seasons was praised for its dynamic structure.
• Screaming Suicide vs. I Don't Care:
  • Winner: Screaming Suicide.
  • Rationale: The main riff and solo are strong, and the song is better live.
• Sleepwalk My Life Away vs. Hey, God:
  • Winner: Hey, God.
  • Rationale: Sleepwalk's intro is great, but the song loses momentum. Hey, God is a solid, mid-90s Megadeth-style track.
• You Must Burn! vs. Let There Be Shred:
  • Winner: You Must Burn!.
  • Rationale: A sludgy, chuggy gem with a great middle section. Let There Be Shred would have been better as an instrumental.
• Lux Æterna vs. Puppet Parade:
  • Winner: Puppet Parade.
  • Rationale: A tough matchup. Puppet Parade is a classic 90s Megadeth track with more body.
• Crown of Barbed Wire vs. Another Bad Day:
  • Winner: Crown of Barbed Wire.
  • Rationale: A unique, sonically different song for Metallica, praised as a "sleeper song."
• If Darkness Had a Son vs. Made in Hell:
  • Winner: If Darkness Had a Son.
  • Rationale: The intro is a 10/10, despite the song losing steam vocally. Made in Hell's drum intro was criticized as random.
• Too Far Gone! vs. Obey the Call:
  • Winner: Split decision.
  • Rationale: One host chose Too Far Gone! for its strong second half. The other chose Obey the Call for its menacing guitar tone.
• Room of Mirrors vs. I Am War:
  • Winner: Room of Mirrors.
  • Rationale: A complete, sonically distinct song with excellent harmony guitars.
• Inamorata vs. The Last Note:
  • Winner: Inamorata.
  • Rationale: An epic, doom-metal-influenced song considered one of Metallica's best of the century.

Mandatory Music is proudly hosted and produced by Michael Heide and Sebastian Kwapich

Contact Mandatory Music:
email us at mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com
find us on Facebook search mandatory music
Instagram: mandatory_music1
Twitter(X) @mandatory_music

Thanks for listening and keep on rocking 

Transcript

@0:00 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Well, hello. Good evening. We're back again. Yarr. You know, life gets in the way and a podcast takes a backseat.

That's the way it goes.

@0:10 - skwapich@shaw.ca

We all have real life commitments that we need to honor in life first, but in foremost, before we do this pod.

So as much as we want this to be a profession, we're not quite there yet. So we have to deal with real life stuff first.

@0:24 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Right.

@0:24 - skwapich@shaw.ca

And then we do this on the side whenever we have time.

@0:26 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

So we're trying to do consistent. We've got bills to pay.

@0:29 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah, exactly.

@0:31 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

And people that people to hang out with, meaning our, our significant others.

@0:35 - skwapich@shaw.ca

And yes, sir.

@0:36 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

In my case, my children. Oh, what's going on here? Hold the phone.

@0:41 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I like it.

@0:42 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I thought nevermind professional member professional. That's what we are. It was going into better days and wiser times by black.

@0:49 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It's a good song.

@0:50 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It is a good song, but I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing.

@0:53 - skwapich@shaw.ca

So we decided to do a side-by-side.

@0:59 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Oh, boy.

@0:59 - skwapich@shaw.ca

boy. boy. boy. boy. Oh, Oh, Thank Song-slash-album ranking between Megadeth's last album and arguably Metallica's latest creation. We don't know if they're going to release another album or not.

Mike seems to think 100% they're going to do another album. I actually think they will do one more, but I would not be surprised if they don't.

@1:24 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

And we're talking about Metallica.

@1:25 - skwapich@shaw.ca

So we're going to compare 72 seasons with Megadeth's self-titled album.

@1:31 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Track by track.

@1:32 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Obviously, there's a discrepancy in the amount of songs. So we're going to take the worst two songs off of 72 seasons, which would be Shadows Follow and Chasing Light.

I'm really sorry if people like those songs, but I don't. I've gone on record saying Chasing Light is probably arguably the worst song Metallica's ever written.

I'm sorry if you like it. I just don't. I just don't like it at all, so yeah, so I would agree that it's not good, even purifies better.

It's a terrible song.

@2:10 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

What? Stop it. You wait for the St. Anger box set. It's gonna be something else. That's one I might.

@2:16 - skwapich@shaw.ca

They're not doing that.

@2:17 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yes, are. Yes, they are.

@2:18 - skwapich@shaw.ca

They are doing that because they do a box set for everything for anniversary purposes. Yeah, absolutely. send out a box set.

@2:24 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Well, yeah, because it's been 20, what, 23 years since, uh.

@2:27 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Take my money.

@2:29 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

So, well, I have, I have a 23 years. It's been 23 years since.

@2:33 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Oh, so we'll be in another two years then.

@2:35 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Maybe, because they usually do in the 30 years, but Relo's not even at 30 yet, because 30's next year.

@2:41 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah, but they're getting up there in age, so I would.

@2:45 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah.

@2:46 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Do you think. to think that if they want to reap the benefits of all these box sets, that they were going to release them sooner than later, right?

@2:52 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Well. Instead of waiting until they're 80 years old, so. The fact, the fact that, uh, they just played Athens, Greece at Olympic Stadium and had 90,000 people there.

It's a lot. It's lot of people.

@3:03 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah, they sell it out, too.

@3:04 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Sell it out, baby. They set a record. There's never been more people in that stadium before, even considering that's the stage we saw, like the big roundy thing.

That's like a whole football field size. They still crammed 90,000 people in there.

@3:15 - skwapich@shaw.ca

That's a lot of people, man.

@3:16 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

of man.

@3:17 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah. That's peanuts for what Metallica's used to, though. I mean, they did the Moscow show in the 90s. Yeah, millions of people.

@3:25 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah.

@3:26 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Some say there was over a million people. Other people say it's not even close to that.

@3:30 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

was maybe about half a million. But if you just Google, I think it was 91, was it? It was.

@3:37 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Google Metallica Moscow 91 and see how many people went to that show.

@3:42 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Well, what a bill that was, though. Do you remember who else was on that bill?

@3:45 - skwapich@shaw.ca

No.

@3:46 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Pantera? Oh, they're like cowboys, like psychos. ACDC was on that bill. The Black Crows were on that bill. And it was Monsters of Rock.

I can't remember the end. There might have been one more.

@3:58 - skwapich@shaw.ca

But those are the big ones. Yeah. It was, I guess they invited a bunch of bands to do a festival, and there's something surreal about playing on stage and having a military helicopter hovering above the crowd.

@4:09 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Absolutely.

@4:10 - skwapich@shaw.ca

You're just like, and with guns, like they had guns on board of that, on board the helicopter?

@4:16 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah, I guess. did.

@4:18 - skwapich@shaw.ca

So.

@4:19 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It says it was ACDC, Metallica, Pantera, and the Black Rose. Nobody else.

@4:23 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Black Rose must have been the opening band then.

@4:26 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I would think so.

@4:27 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I assume ACDC came on last.

@4:29 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I would think so.

@4:30 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@4:31 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

You know?

@4:31 - skwapich@shaw.ca

So it would have gone Black Rose, Pantera, Metallica, ACDC.

@4:34 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Because at that time, ACDC was way bigger of a band than Metallica was. Absolutely. Well, yeah, the Razor's Edge was out, and they were riding high.

@4:41 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah, they were in their prime of attention or fan base, I guess.

@4:47 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah.

@4:47 - skwapich@shaw.ca

So.

@4:48 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

And it says it drew with between 500,000 and 1.6 million fans.

@4:52 - skwapich@shaw.ca

So that's quite the discrepancy. Yeah. It's like.

@4:57 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

What?

@4:57 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Another 500,000 or over double that.

@5:00 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah, or yeah, basically triple that. Yeah, let's just go triple.

@5:03 - skwapich@shaw.ca

How do you get that discrepancy?

@5:05 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Let's just go straight up to quadruple. Let's just go four times.

@5:07 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It's anywhere from four people to 400 million people.

@5:10 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Basically, it's a couple of small countries. Let's just go with that.

@5:15 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Okay, but before we get into this, we have some news for our female singer.

@5:22 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

We do.

@5:24 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Would you like to?

@5:25 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

No, you, hey, please.

@5:26 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Okay. You're the fanboy. Alicia White-Gloos, formerly of Arch Enemy, left the band to pursue other interests and her own project.

And so she released a song with an all-female-fronted group called Blue Medusa, which we thought this is the path that she's going.

@5:48 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Sure.

@5:48 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Well, a couple of days ago.

@5:50 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Was it a couple of days ago? It was a couple of days ago. Yeah, weekend or something.

@5:52 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It was announced that she's now singing for Dragon Force.

@5:56 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

And you're like, what?

@5:57 - skwapich@shaw.ca

All of a sudden, you're just like, okay, we got a new band. Here's Single, blah, blah, blah, release, and then all of a sudden she's now in Dragon Force.

So I don't know if this is a temporary thing or if it's just like a side gig for her or what's going on with that.

But like, do you have any more information?

@6:12 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Because I just, I know nothing. Do you, do you know, I know not much about, I know Dragon Force plays really fast.

@6:17 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah, they're like a power math metal band. They're all about, they're like in your wheelhouse, kind of in terms of topics, but not in terms of pacing.

Because Mike likes a more, yeah, Mike likes more of a sludgy grunge chug metal sound, whereas Dragon Force is like lightning quick.

@6:37 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

So, so they have two singers now, right? Male and female singer.

@6:42 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@6:43 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Is, well, let's put on a couple seconds of this song and see.

@6:47 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Well, they've already debuted her, right?

@6:49 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

So, yeah. Yeah, but this like is right up my, right down my boulevard. Not anymore, it's not. I also want to hear her sing.

It's too fast for me.

@7:04 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I like it.

@7:05 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Does not compute.

@7:06 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Through the Fire is like one of the greatest songs ever.

@7:09 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It's so good. Oh, really? Okay, I'll try this. Okay, I've heard enough. No, stop it. No. Again, professional.

@7:27 - skwapich@shaw.ca

So she had a baptism by fire over the weekend, basically, because their singer, Mark Hudson, missed his first show of 2026 entirely due to ongoing hearing issues.

@7:38 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

So there's issues with his hearing.

@7:40 - skwapich@shaw.ca

This is coming from loudersound.com. just take that with a great.

@7:46 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Sorry, was that out loud? I'm sorry.

@7:47 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It was.

@7:48 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah. Okay.

@7:48 - skwapich@shaw.ca

So on Saturday, May 9th, Alyssa fronting the band for the first time following the surprise news of her addition to The Fold earlier this month.

The former arch enemy front one was expected to share singing news with Hudson, but her bandmate. was unable to perform thanks to his battles with Tinnitus.

@8:04 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah, Tinnitus. Yeah, that's not cool. It's called earplug, son.

@8:11 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@8:11 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah, because he can't be that old.

@8:14 - skwapich@shaw.ca

So I guess this, yeah. Shallan's new band, Blue Medusa, described the project as the next evolution of everything I've been building towards for years.

It's my creative melting pot. She's also been working on her first solo album for some years now. So she's just doing everything right now.

She's got a solo project, a band, and then singing for Dragon Force. Well, my guess is she probably loves Dragon Force, and they phoned her and said, hey, do you want to sing for us?

And she's like, yeah, okay. Yeah.

@8:39 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

wouldn't you, like if you're like a fan of a band and they happen to phone you, hey, you're not going on the road anytime soon, are you?

Do you want to come?

@8:47 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Well, she's there. So she's doing the tour with Dragon Force.

@8:53 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Okay.

@8:54 - skwapich@shaw.ca

As a, yeah. So in the meantime, you can catch Alyssa on tour with Dragon Force. I'm more up. Outcoming dates, including the Sonic Temple Festival in Columbus on Sunday, May 17th.

@9:04 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Plans for Mark Hudson's return to Dragon Force show is currently unknown. Oh boy, that sucks.

@9:10 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I guess there was an issue with him, so they needed to find a singer to continue, because they're going on tour.

@9:15 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

They're starting the tour in May, right? They got obligations, man.

@9:18 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah, so I wonder if this was like, oh man, he's not going to be able to sing for us, what do we do?

And then called in a favor, I guess. Yeah, I guess. I don't think she's going to stay in the band.

I think she's just doing it for the tour, because their singer is unable to perform.

@9:32 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

So, I it, though.

@9:34 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I like it, because I know how talented she is. But man, how about like, here's our material, learn it.

@9:42 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah, that's a lot. Hopefully she had a good couple of weeks of lead time. Probably, I would think so.

@9:50 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It's not a lot, is it?

@9:51 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

No. But she's a professional.

@9:54 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@9:55 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

So that's our Alyssa White Gloos news. Oh, that could be like a segment, Alyssa White Gloos news. if group leaders who it, We've

@10:00 - skwapich@shaw.ca

She's doing something new every week, man.

@10:02 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It would be, what's up with Alyssa this week? Yeah, exactly.

@10:06 - skwapich@shaw.ca

What's up, Alyssa?

@10:07 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah.

@10:08 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Anyway, next week when we have Alyssa on, on the, Oh my God.

@10:11 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

That'd be cool. That'd be scary. That'd scary. Talking to someone cool like that.

@10:14 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I would love it.

@10:15 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Sure.

@10:16 - skwapich@shaw.ca

So if anyone out there knows her, connect us. Okay.

@10:21 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Okay.

@10:22 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Let's do this.

@10:23 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Are we doing this? We actually doing this?

@10:25 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah. Okay.

@10:27 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Do you want me to play like a snippet of each song?

@10:29 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Sure.

@10:30 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah.

@10:30 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Okay. You can just play like the intro, a couple, like 10, 15 seconds of it.

@10:33 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Sure. So obviously to refresh our memories, we got 72 Seasons, which is awfully long. It's three days and four minutes long for, for no good reason.

And then going up against a song that, Oh, it's at a whopping 429. I think it's three minutes less than, okay.

Here's what I'm going to say before we really get into this.

@10:57 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Okay.

@10:58 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

72 Seasons is like a, Like a gigantic prime rib covered in just fat. And it takes you a long time to get through all that fat to get to the good stuff.

It's an interesting analogy. Right? Yeah. And then, but once you get in there, certain points of that piece of meat is amazing.

But there's just so much fat around it. For me personally, it's not amazing. But then you have the exact opposite of that is the new Megadeth is like a lean steak where there is no fat.

There's no time for fat. It's just like this cow.

@11:37 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It's sirloin.

@11:38 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It's a sirloin.

@11:39 - skwapich@shaw.ca

All this cow did was run on a treadmill. even. Exactly. mignon.

@11:42 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah. And it's like, basically it's 40 minutes, 10 songs and 40 minutes and change. If you're not counting right the lightning.

Right? Because we're not.

@11:51 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah. That is a fascinating point because like the, the average length of the, of the song excluding ride the lightning, which is Metallica.

@12:00 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

is known to write long songs.

@12:01 - skwapich@shaw.ca

So you're not going over four minutes really for most of the songs.

@12:06 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Like on average, they're all about four minutes or just under. Yeah.

@12:09 - skwapich@shaw.ca

If you want to do the math to average them out.

@12:11 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Whereas for Metallica, it's like.

@12:13 - skwapich@shaw.ca

641 is an average.

@12:15 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

641 is the average for Metallica.

@12:17 - skwapich@shaw.ca

So it's an extra, it's an extra two minutes per song for 72 seasons versus, versus Megadeth.

@12:22 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

So a lot. And sometimes it's not, and a lot of songs is not, especially on 72, we'll get that each song, but it's just, that's not necessary.

Anyways. Yeah. And then Tipping Point. I'll play a minute and a second. Tipping Point. We all know Tipping Point, the great concert opener, you know, lean, mean, metal machine.

@12:43 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@12:43 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Okay. Good enough. Which one are you leaning towards here, Mike? I'm Which one would you prefer? Well, I don't, I don't really want to do this, but I'm kind of leaning towards Tipping Point.

Because it, to me, it's a better album opener for one. So it just comes out and, you know. You know, it comes out kind of punchy the face.

It's got, well, we won't really get into the guitar solos because we all know the ones off of Make Other Better because they're done by someone, half of everyone in the two bands' age for the most part.

So Timu is a rock god. His solos are way better than Kirk's. It's the way it goes. They're crafted.

They are not just, hey, I just thought of this five seconds ago and lay it down and let Lars change the key to make it fit and then boom.

@13:31 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@13:32 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

In 17 seasons, it's like a song. It's like, it's like seven and a half minutes. Like it's almost as long as Master of Puppets, but it does morph into another song near the end, right?

Like it does have a shift at the end of it, right? does it need to be that long though?

Do we need a shift? Do we need to shift into another gear? Do we need an eight, like a seven and half minute song opening a record?

@13:53 - skwapich@shaw.ca

So do you think that Megadeth is more formulaic in terms of their songwriting? Like here's like an intro riff?

And then Metallica actually kind of pieces their songs together more in a layered manner where they like introduce things and themes to their songs.

@14:11 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

And I think they used to be like that, but now I just think they'd like to repeat everything too much.

Right. There's just a lot of repetition. There's a lot of like, why are we doing like a third?

@14:21 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I do have an issue with that when you like have this like 10 out of 10 riff and you just like, that's the entire song is a one riff.

Like it's Lord Humongous all over again. Right. Like, yeah, I'm like, give me something else in this song other than this one riff.

Right.

@14:34 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

So, and I know 72 has a lot of different stuff to it, but it's not, it's just stuff. Like, it's just, I want to say filler.

Cause that's the wrong word. It's a bad word. Filler is a bad word. Okay. I'll get, I'll use that word later, but I'm, I'm taking tipping point this.

@14:51 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I'm taking 72 seasons.

@14:53 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Okay. All right.

@14:53 - skwapich@shaw.ca

So we're, I just like it better as a, as an entire song. Like when I listened to the song from like, obviously.

There's certain things of Tipping Point I like better than 72 Seasons, but I like a lot more little things in 72 Seasons better than I like a lot of the little things in Tipping Point.

@15:12 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

And I think 72 sounds a lot like Moth and a Flame.

@15:15 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It's a great song.

@15:17 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah.

@15:17 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I mean, Moth is a better version of 72 Seasons.

@15:20 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Well, exactly.

@15:21 - skwapich@shaw.ca

For sure.

@15:21 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yes. Without a doubt, that song is...

@15:23 - skwapich@shaw.ca

But, like, I mean, we can say, singing-wise, it's going to Metallica.

@15:29 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Not on every song. Not on every song.

@15:32 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah. James is better singer.

@15:35 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Well, course he is.

@15:35 - skwapich@shaw.ca

In general, right?

@15:36 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

But some of his vocals, like, that's why we cut Shadows Follow, because for me, think...

@15:41 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Man, that's a terrible song.

@15:42 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

The song, the song, like, dies when he starts singing, and it's just like, eww. Like, it's just the, the, the verse, the music...

@15:49 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Chasing light! That's why we cut that one, too.

@15:52 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

There is no light.

@15:53 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Come on, man. No.

@15:54 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I did like that song for a hot minute, but I liked all of them for a hot minute, and I don't really like much...

@16:00 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Anyway, so okay, so we were I go 72 seasons. I like it better.

@16:04 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah. So since we are going- we're Shadows Follow. Yes.

@16:08 - skwapich@shaw.ca

And we're going to Screaming Suicide next.

@16:10 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

And then we have I Don't Care. Yeah. Which is, there's something, I don't know, is there something fun about this song?

Like there really is. I don't, because I- Do you care about it though? I care about Screaming Suicide less.

Like it was good when we saw them in 2024 live. Like it was good live.

@16:39 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@16:40 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

But the song on the album sucks. I don't know. It's just me. Like when I listen to what I, because I listen to both these records back to back.

I did 72 first, and then I cleanse the palate somewhat.

@16:54 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@16:54 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Change the taste with whatever you want with Megadeth. Screaming. Suicide isn't good. It's one of those songs where it's got potential, and they just didn't realize it again.

Maybe they've lost a step because they're old, but you know how bands do that, where they just, after a while, you're like, okay.

You start to parody yourself a little bit, because it has that intro to attitude off a reload, kind of, and I don't know.

What do you have to say?

@17:30 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I love the main riff of Screaming Suicide.

@17:34 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Sure.

@17:34 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I think it is incredible, and it's got so much edge in it. And then when the, like you were right, this song is way better live than it is on the album.

@17:47 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah.

@17:49 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I mean, there's negative things about every song on both albums. Absolutely. I'll give you that. Without There's certain things that'd like, I wish they did this differently.

Yes. This sounds terrible. I wish his voice was different. It's Like, it's Blanket, but I know I value or I like Screaming Suicide way better than you do.

So, I mean, it is for me Screaming Suicide over I Don't Care. I just like it musically. Like, I don't know.

That riff is so good. And the solo for it is actually really good.

@18:19 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Okay.

@18:20 - skwapich@shaw.ca

So.

@18:22 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I like them both equally at the least.

@18:24 - skwapich@shaw.ca

So, even when, honestly, when the album came out, this is the one.

@18:29 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I skipped it the first time I heard it. When I saw it in the theater, I was like, oh, I still like it, man.

@18:33 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I still like it.

@18:34 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I'll still take Screaming Suicide because I don't care.

@18:36 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It's not that good of a song. Yeah. Okay.

@18:38 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Fair enough. It's it's fun, but yeah. Yeah.

@18:42 - skwapich@shaw.ca

All right. So we're on to the next one. So.

@18:44 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Sleepwalk. Sleepwalk My Life Away. Sounds good. It's like Inner Sandman. It's Inner Sandman of this generation.

@18:54 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@18:55 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Like, it's very Inner Sandman. And that pace is just. Let's let the man play. Let's turn him up and let him play.

Right?

@19:05 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@19:05 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Like because even the guitar is low and the bass is like up front. Let him do that. Let Rob play.

Let the man cook.

@19:14 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I think the song peaks in the intro.

@19:17 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Absolutely does.

@19:18 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Like it is like the intro happens. You're like, oh, man, this is great.

@19:22 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Well, it's like every song in the album where it's after like the verses come in. It's just like starts taking a nosedive.

@19:26 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Can we just agree that every intro? Well, not every, but all the intros like the minute intros, for every song is are incredible on 72 seasons.

there's something that just happens.

@19:36 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yes.

@19:36 - skwapich@shaw.ca

When, when like the bulk of the instruments come in, we're just kind of like, yeah.

@19:40 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah. It's just like everyone's all got their hands up cheering. Nelson's like, oh, okay, well, whatever. And then we have.

@19:48 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It's such a long intro for this song.

@19:50 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yes. Well, and it's such a, it's one of the longer songs on the record too. And a whopping 441.

I like this song a lot.

@20:04 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Hey, God?

@20:05 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

No, this is a... Oh, my God. I hit the wrong song.

@20:08 - skwapich@shaw.ca

You did. It's supposed to be Hey, God, right?

@20:10 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

No, I'm sorry.

@20:11 - skwapich@shaw.ca

No, no, it's fine.

@20:12 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It's fine. Okay, let's Hey, God. My bad. I'm such not a professional today.

@20:18 - skwapich@shaw.ca

No, it's fine.

@20:22 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Like you said, long intro.

@20:25 - skwapich@shaw.ca

They just go right into it, right?

@20:27 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Well, there's no time. They don't have time to do anything else.

@20:29 - skwapich@shaw.ca

No, because it's three minutes long.

@20:31 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

They don't have time for the intro. Okay. I prefer... Oh, boy.

@20:36 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Hey, God.

@20:37 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah, I think I do, too. Like, I love, like, this, the intro of Sleepwalk My Life Away is probably the best.

@20:42 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Well, if we go for the first minute, it's going to be Sleepwalk My Life Away. Yes. But as soon as, like, the intro part and the driving bass stops and they go into the bulk of the song, the song kind of loses me a little bit, right?

So I definitely like Hey, God.

@20:57 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It does, isn't It really does. And it's... It's kind of like, really, guys? Do you remember you wrote that song 30-something years ago?

It was there.

@21:06 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@21:07 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

No, I agree. I like Hey God as well.

@21:09 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah. It's one of those songs where people make fun of it, but it's actually not a bad song. I do like it.

I find myself wanting to make fun of the song because it's like, Hey God! But then I listen to it and I find myself head-bobbing to it every time.

@21:25 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It's musically really good.

@21:26 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It's actually a pretty good song.

@21:28 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Sort of like that mid-90s Megadeth kind of like cryptic writings.

@21:31 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It could be on Countdown. could be on Euthanasia.

@21:34 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Exactly. It be on any of those like sort of from like Countdown to cryptic writings. Those three records are kind of all the, not the same, but okay.

So now, okay. Where are we? So I don't lose?

@21:45 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Track four. If we're going on the Megadeth. Okay. it's going to be Let There Be Shred.

@21:50 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Okay. Well, I'm not a huge fan of Let There Be Shred, but I'll play a second of it. Let There Be Shred.

Shred. It's a great song title. Shred. Shred. Shred. Be Shred. Shred. Like, sure. They should have led the record early.

@22:04 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I think so.

@22:07 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Like, this is quintessential Megadeth. This is the blueprint of another long song, too. This one's longer, 358. But it's, but again, it, I think when the verse starts, it's like a lot of these older bands have this problem.

It's like, they're great until the singing starts. I don't care. I don't care. You know what I mean?

@22:34 - skwapich@shaw.ca

You know what would have been really good for this song is if they just made this an all-instrumental song.

@22:39 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Absolutely.

@22:40 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Like, it's called Let There Be Shred. Why do you need to bring a voice in?

@22:42 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

We don't need any voices.

@22:43 - skwapich@shaw.ca

do all lead work throughout the whole song and just, like, really just double down the instrument. Because Megadeth doesn't do instrumentals.

Like, have they ever done an instrumental song?

@22:51 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I don't think so.

@22:52 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Which is kind of weird.

@22:53 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It's ironic.

@22:55 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah, it's like a free ride when you're already there, I guess.

@23:00 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It's like Rain Hunter Wedding Day.

@23:01 - skwapich@shaw.ca

There you go. This is turning into an Alanis Morissette podcast. That's No big deal.

@23:07 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah.

@23:08 - skwapich@shaw.ca

So then the flip side of that is You Must Burn.

@23:10 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Oh, yeah. This riff kick . Yeah. First minute of the song. This song's actually pretty good.

@23:20 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I like it.

@23:21 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Even vocally.

@23:22 - skwapich@shaw.ca

a lot.

@23:22 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

And that cool middle section when this is playing, when they're harmonizing it and stuff, it's pretty How many guitars, man?

Can't lose.

@23:30 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Can't.

@23:34 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah.

@23:35 - skwapich@shaw.ca

like this song. I really do. You Must Burn.

@23:38 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yes. But it's... Why is it seven minutes?

@23:46 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Because it's slow. I think it's the slowest song on the album. I think it is. Murata is actually technically...

@23:52 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Well, if we go by BPMs, I think you're right. No, actually, I think this is probably slower.

@23:57 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It's very sludgy. It's very chuggy.

@23:59 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah. It's And it's got that whole cool Alice in Chains part in the middle with those cool, those droney vocals.

Okay. Well, I think we answered our questions. You must burn. And lyrical content. We haven't even talked about that because nine times out of 10, it's going to be a win for Metallica.

And this one's all about cancel culture and all that. don't think Let There Be Shred needs explanation.

@24:21 - skwapich@shaw.ca

So you can just read the lyrics. I love the chorus in this.

@24:25 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah.

@24:25 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Like I think this is the best chorus. Well, maybe not the best, but one of the best choruses he did in 72 seasons.

Where he holds that you must burn.

@24:36 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Did your cat just run across the screen?

@24:39 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Did you see the tail go by?

@24:40 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I did. I just saw a tail whiz by the screen.

@24:42 - skwapich@shaw.ca

That was funny.

@24:43 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It's this blur of gray.

@24:44 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Well, she stays either on the left or the right.

@24:47 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

So that's funny.

@24:47 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I am going to give it to you must burn.

@24:49 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I really like it. Absolutely.

@24:51 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It's song is like, it's very good. It's it's underappreciated.

@24:55 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I think it Honestly, it's a gem.

@24:57 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It is a gem.

@24:58 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It's a gem.

@24:59 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Right.

@24:59 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah. Yes. So now we move on to track number five off of Megadeth.

@25:04 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Oh, this is a tough one.

@25:05 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

The old Puppet Parade and Lux Eterna.

@25:07 - skwapich@shaw.ca

This is so tough for me.

@25:10 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

And it's the funny thing is Puppet Parade's a longer song.

@25:13 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It's the only time that you're going to get a longer Megadeth song than Metallica's song.

@25:18 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah. Lux Eterna's fine. You know, like it's, it, it harkens back to the Kill Em All Days with Hit the Lights.

And it sounds a lot like Perfect Crime by Guns N' Roses. Um, because I think Perfect Crime sounds like Hit the Lights.

So, you know, they just, they're playing off each other.

@25:35 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It's, it's a cool riff. It's catchy. I, it didn't, it never wowed me.

@25:39 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Puppet Parade's a good song. It's got more, it's got more body to it. It's got more, it's got more.

@25:45 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It's very classic Megadeth, like 90s Megadeth, right? And it's just like, yeah, I think you're right. I would give it to Puppet Parade over Lux Eterna.

I would. I actually would. Lux Eterna is a one, but this is, to me, this.

@26:00 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

So I think this is the toughest one. Yes.

@26:02 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Because I love both of these songs like these are the point of Lux Aterna is to be short and fast.

@26:07 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It's I'm surprised it didn't leave the record because that's usually what like hardwired or well hardwired because every other song that leaves a records three days long.

@26:16 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah, that's odd.

@26:16 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Right. You put the shortest song, the fast, basically the fastest song, the shortest song, a song that should lead a record and you dump it to number six, which would be probably side to, you know, I think that public parade might be my favorite.

@26:30 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Favorite off of the Megadeth album.

@26:32 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It's up there.

@26:33 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I think it's in my top three. Yeah. So to put it against Lux Aterna is criminal. It's like Minnesota playing Dallas in the first round with one of those two teams could make it all the way to the Stanley Cup finals and they're playing the first round.

Right. So it's just kind of like, it's just, it sucks to be Lux Aterna because you're put up against such a great Megadeth song.

@26:50 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah.

ACTION ITEM: Compare Hardwired vs Lux Æterna back-to-back - WATCH

@26:51 - skwapich@shaw.ca

But like, you know, if I like it better than the first four Megadeth songs. So if you would put Lux Aterna against any of the four would be Lux Aterna for me all day long.

@27:00 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

But because it's against Puppet Parade, like I really like Puppet Parade. Do you like Hardwired or Lux Eterna better?

@27:07 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Because they're kind of the same idea, right? They're punky and they're just, you know. I'd have to listen to them back to back.

@27:12 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I don't, I don't, I can't. It's been a while.

@27:15 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I would say I would like, off of the cuff, I would like Hardwired a little bit better.

@27:19 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

too.

@27:20 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Like a halftime thing at the end of the song, there's nothing better.

@27:22 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah.

@27:23 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah, it's so good.

@27:24 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

So good. Okay.

@27:26 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@27:27 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Then we got, we're onto another bad day. Cause who doesn't have those? I low-key love this song. It's pretty good.

And I think, we've got to talk about production too. I think the Megadeth album's so crisp and like not overproduced, but it's close.

Cause it's so, like it's so dialed in. And there's that, just a little hint of delay. Then again, this is 90s Megadeth.

And this is like kind of our, well mine anyway, my wheelhouse of Megadeth.

@27:59 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It is interesting. It's interesting to note the differences like on the high end as well, like Megadeth has a lot crisper high ends and they're more sharper, I guess.

And Metallica has more depth on the base end, like on the lower end. Like feel the reverberation more in the low parts, the low-noted parts of Metallica.

@28:25 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yes.

@28:26 - skwapich@shaw.ca

So it's just interesting to see.

@28:28 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah.

@28:29 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Like when they hit that bass note and like you can hear like, like you can feel it shaking.

@28:34 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah, there's.

@28:35 - skwapich@shaw.ca

And the drums are more produced for Metallica. Like, yeah, I would like to hear Dirk's drums with Metallica production.

@28:45 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I'd to hear Dirk drum from Metallica.

@28:47 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Oh, that be so good.

@28:49 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

No offense to Lars, but you know, Dirk's a monster. I think Lars is a monster too.

@28:54 - skwapich@shaw.ca

He's done dirty a lot, I think. Actually.

@28:57 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yes, he's a fantastic drummer. Be able to keep up. With guy like Hetfield, you kind of have to be.

Yeah. This is my second favorite song on the album.

@29:04 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It's going to be Crown of Barbed Wire for me. It's just such a uniquely different song, too.

@29:08 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yes, it's nothing like they've ever done. Vocally, musically. It's got so much... If learn how to play on guitar, it's got so much fun, like, fun nuance to it that most of their songs don't have.

I love Crown of Barbed Wire. But Another Bad Day is a good song, but it's no Crown of Barbed Wire for me.

@29:27 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah. I really do like Crown of Barbed Wire, man. That's a sleeper song that I haven't really listened to.

@29:33 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Sleeper song. The video is an anime. I if you've ever seen the video.

@29:36 - skwapich@shaw.ca

The video is awesome. It's on right now on the other monitor.

@29:39 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

There you go.

@29:39 - skwapich@shaw.ca

He's like in jail and stuff like that.

@29:41 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah. He's a murderer guy and he wears the Crown of Barbed Wire and blah, blah, blah. It's cool. It's a great song, great video.

I wish they were in more of their videos. Especially for 72. They were in like 72 seasons. And If Darkness Had a Sun.

And I think that's it.

@29:56 - skwapich@shaw.ca

And Lux Aeterna, I think. I do like Crown of Barbed Wire.

@30:00 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It's such a good song, man. it's a song when you, if you haven't heard it before, you put it on, you're damn, this is good.

Yeah. Okay, so we're both on Crown of Barbed Wire as well. So we skip in Chasing Light because.

@30:11 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It's a terrible song.

@30:12 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Because there's no light. Yeah. So we have If Darkness Had a Sun.

@30:19 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@30:20 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Which, oh, it's only six and half minutes. I thought it was longer. Like, this is like their ACDC moment.

I don't know. The song sucks. This is awesome.

@30:34 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Like this. Again, the intro is a 10 out of 10.

@30:38 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Like how they layer everything in together, it's so good. Yeah, loses me when vocally, and no offense to the vocals, it's just.

@30:44 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Well, let's see.

@30:45 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It's not the words. It's just, it's how it's presented.

@30:49 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Do you think that James has been obsessed with writing a song about temptation?

@30:55 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yes.

@30:56 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Because he's tried to do that so many times. And it finally made it to an official release, because he wrote a song called Temptation, which is very similar.

@31:07 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It was on the Presidio record that we're to get with the St.

@31:09 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Anger box set.

@31:10 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

We'll hear it. It'll come up for the St. Anger box set. I need to turn that off. And then, oh God, Obey the Call.

No, Made to Kill. Yeah, this song stinks. Totally unnecessary.

@31:27 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It has to go to darkness, man.

@31:30 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

has to. Just because of this drum intro, it actually annoys me.

@31:35 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I like drums. Why?

@31:38 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It's 15 seconds of just random hitting.

@31:42 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yes, why?

@31:43 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Open with this.

@31:48 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah, it doesn't really have a plan. It just seems like he's just hitting drums for the sake of hitting drums.

@31:52 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

And this is such a badass riff. I don't know, man. This song is cooking. It's cooking, baby.

@32:06 - skwapich@shaw.ca

You think so?

@32:07 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Wait till the vocals start, then it probably will stop.

@32:14 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah, you kind of lose it in the vocals, don't you?

@32:16 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

do. You do.

@32:17 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@32:17 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I'll give it to, oh, God, that intro. Besides, after the drums, 15 seconds in, if I make my edit, it'll be start with the awesome guitar riffs and sweet solo and then do it.

But it's got to go to darkness.

@32:29 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I do like the main riff of darkness. Yeah, and it's such a cool little.

@32:35 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

And it's heavy, it's bouncy, it's, you know.

@32:37 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It's like a Wherever I May Roam kind of vibe to it a little bit, right?

@32:40 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah, absolutely.

@32:42 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@32:43 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Okay, we'll both go with darkness.

@32:44 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yes.

@32:45 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

And then, this is going pretty quick, this is good. This is good, yeah. So now, we have their own cover of No Remorse, which is too far gone.

Well, come on.

@32:58 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@32:59 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I guess. Wait, and it just turns into, and that's when I hear a band do this, like, how do you, I understand you've been around for a long time and your brains aren't, the memories aren't remaining as well as they used to.

@33:16 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Okay, put it.

@33:18 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Like, this is no remorse. And it's like, come on, you guys, you've done this. It's no remorse. I'm sorry, pardon my language, but.

@33:26 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Okay, do me a favor.

@33:27 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Christ. What?

@33:29 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Hold on, let me just find a timestamp for you.

@33:31 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Oh, okay, please. Okay. We're timestamping something. What are we doing? Where are we going?

@33:39 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Okay, start it at 2.30 for Too Far Gone.

@33:43 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Okay, 2.30.

@33:45 - skwapich@shaw.ca

And then just listen to like that 30 second part of it. This makes the entire song for me.

@33:53 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yes. Well, of course, it's got harmony. It's so good though. harmony guitars. It's so

@34:00 - skwapich@shaw.ca

But this is why you journey towards this part, like, and then the whole end, okay, I agree with you that Too Far Gone is kind of a meh, but the whole end, half of the song makes the entire song.

Like, I love this part of the Yeah, that's good. So why can't they? Well, would be that impactful if you didn't go through the journey of the beginning of the song, right?

@34:25 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Well, if you wrote a good beginning to the song, you could. But, like, when you put it up against Obey, that's true.

Sorry.

@34:32 - skwapich@shaw.ca

You just couldn't lose this, could you?

@34:33 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

No, I couldn't. That was the thing with a lot of these songs is you got to, you got to, you got to part, like, I don't want to say part the hairs because that just sounds gross.

But you have to, you got to dig, right? You have to work at getting to the really good stuff.

Like I meant with the prime rib where it's just all the, all the excess. It's just. one?

@34:59 - skwapich@shaw.ca

And Well, Obey the Call is just the fat of the prime. Just kidding.

@35:04 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

How you.

@35:05 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It is the least liked song on the album by just downloads.

@35:09 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Which is funny. It's like my favorite song on the album.

@35:12 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Obey the Call?

@35:12 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I love Obey the Call.

@35:13 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Oh my. So we're different in this because I'm going too far gone all day long.

@35:17 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I know. I love Obey the Call.

@35:19 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It's so good. Oh boy. Oh boy.

@35:22 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah, this song's awesome. What are talking about? It's like classic cheese and Megadeth cheese. Like 90s cheese. It's good stuff.

It's all about like Holocaust, not Holocaust, Apocalypse.

ACTION ITEM: Re-listen to Obey the Call - WATCH

@35:36 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Different things.

@35:37 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Nuclear Holocaust. Nuclear Holocaust.

@35:39 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@35:40 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Not the terrible other one. The one that'll never happen. But just wait until this kicks in.

@35:45 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It's tuned down. I I don't know. Maybe it just doesn't resonate with me or I got to give it another listen or whatnot.

@35:50 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

But just get out of this. This does go on for a little while. Too long.

@35:58 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It does, doesn't it?

@35:59 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah. Yeah. F, man. Here we go. Ready?

@36:02 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@36:04 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Like, it's like, oh, that's just that guitar. Like that tone of his guitar. Oh, my God. It's so good.

Dave needs to play. Drop the all go down to D.

@36:13 - skwapich@shaw.ca

A cracked horizon.

@36:15 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah.

@36:19 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah. still doing this for gone. I like that song.

@36:21 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I'm taking obey the call.

@36:23 - skwapich@shaw.ca

sorry. Oh, well, that's interesting.

@36:24 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Okay. I love that song. That song like that. When I first listened to this mega that the record, I didn't really like many of like, I like Papa Parade and Another Bad Day, but then Obey The Call.

was like it's kind of got like because i'm a huge fan of psychotron off of uh it does have that feel to it it's got a psychotron vibe yeah and it's sort of got that same idea but it's just something about the sound of dave's and timu's guitars where they've just got like this this tone is just it's dialed so tight and it's just so mean and menacing i just i that's what does it for me and i've watched like videos on

YouTube of guys talking about this album, and they all hate Obey the Call. Literally, all of them that I've watched, like the song is...

@37:06 - skwapich@shaw.ca

likes it just because everyone hates it.

@37:07 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I think that might be part of the thing, is I like it because nobody else does.

@37:11 - skwapich@shaw.ca

That rebellious spirit in you, Mike.

@37:13 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It'll never go away.

@37:14 - skwapich@shaw.ca

love it.

@37:14 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

So yeah, so up next we got I Am War.

@37:18 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@37:19 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Which doesn't ring a bell.

@37:23 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It's actually a lot better than you think it is.

@37:26 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It is. It's a good song. I questioned the guitar tone.

@37:31 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah, it's a little fuzzy, isn't it?

@37:32 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It's all like flange-y or phaser-y or something. It's like, why?

@37:39 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah, did you see? They might be using like a slight flanger on it.

@37:41 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

You're right. I think so. But again, this song is no different than Puppet Parade, Another Bad Day, A God, right?

Like, that's the problem these older artists have. There's just not enough diversity.

@37:57 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I do think... think, though, with this song that his voice works really well for the song, because there's an emotional connection that he's pained while he's singing, right?

And the topic at hand, I am war, it's just, I really like Dave Mustaine's vocal tone in this song, which is a wild statement to say.

@38:18 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It is, it's shocking, actually, but I think it's his best vocal performance on the whole record.

@38:26 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@38:26 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Except for the end of the last note when he's talking, but that doesn't count. When he talks about a sneer.

@38:33 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It's an underrated song. Like, I understand why people don't like it or don't listen to it, because it's kind of lost in the back half of the album.

Right. And it's, you know, it's right after Bay of the Call, which a lot of people don't like, but I Am War is a better song than I think people give it credit for.

@38:46 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Well, people don't know what the hell they're talking about.

@38:48 - skwapich@shaw.ca

The unfortunate thing, it's going up against Room of Mirrors.

@38:51 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It is.

@38:52 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Which is a very good song.

@38:53 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It's a travesty. They haven't played the song live yet. It really is.

@38:56 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah, the song's awesome.

@39:00 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It's of the few in F sharp. It's, you know, and guess what?

@39:05 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Harmony guitars at the end, that's probably the best.

@39:09 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

That's up there with like Orion. Really, it's so good. Or like Matt. I don't want to. Yeah, it's up there with like Orion Master Puppets, some of the coolest harmonies they've ever used the harmonies.

like Freight, I think Freight Ends and Sandy's got some good harmonies in it. Yeah, it's a little different for me, man.

@39:28 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It's such a good song. I guess the reason why we like Room of Mirrors and Crown of Barbed Wired so much is because they are like kind of sonically different from the rest of the songs on the album.

@39:40 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

They're in different keys. They're different constructions.

@39:43 - skwapich@shaw.ca

They play around with rhythm and timing a little bit. So, because the drumming is, there's no hi-hat.

@39:54 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

You can't really hear it.

@39:55 - skwapich@shaw.ca

to bring the hi-hat in.

@39:56 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Well, there's hi-hat everywhere.

@39:57 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Oh my goodness.

@40:00 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I just had a thought that Room of Mirrors sounds like Prince Charming a little bit. It's better than Prince Charming, though.

Well, yeah, a lot of songs are better than Prince Charming. I like Prince Charming, but a lot of songs are better, including Room of Mirrors.

No, it's great. We talked about the harmonies are awesome. The solos are actually good.

@40:22 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It's a very complete song.

@40:24 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It's good from beginning to end.

@40:26 - skwapich@shaw.ca

There's no real parts in it where I go, ah, I could do without this part.

@40:30 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Like, I enjoy listening to it from beginning to end. So do you think they buried it so far down the list because you needed some substance at the end?

Or is it something that... Like, you could switch this with Shadows Fall Out, Screaming Suicide. No, maybe not Screaming Suicide.

Maybe Suicide needs to say a three, but you could put this at two. And move Shadows Fall Out down.

@40:55 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I don't think people really... Like, I could be wrong, but I don't think that artists really put that much thought into the way the songs appear on the album anymore.

@41:11 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Right. Even for an older artist that have been doing this for a long time?

@41:15 - skwapich@shaw.ca

That might be a little different, but I don't think they hold the same weight as they would have in the 80s and 90s to the structure of their album.

Yeah. Because, you know, back when Metallica first became a band, it was cassettes, right? There was, and vinyls, right?

There was no CDs yet.

@41:30 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Side A and B, right?

@41:31 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Side A and B, right? So you had to structure your albums based on side A and side B. And so usually what you would do is the first song on each side would be like a banger.

@41:39 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Well, that's why Lux Aterna is on side B.

@41:42 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah. So that kind of makes sense why they put that in, because that would be the first song on the B side.

Yeah. And they do have cassettes for 72 seasons as well.

@41:50 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

They You should buy one and let me know what's the song number one.

@41:52 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I wouldn't be able to play it. I don't have anything to play the cassette. That's to go get a Walkman from somewhere.

But I don't think... That artist really, because the way, I mean, everyone streams now, right? So you can get any song at any time with a click of a button.

@42:07 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

And I don't think. could have put this out in like 12 weeks, do one song a week for 12 weeks.

@42:11 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah. If they really wanted. do that with Hardwired. They release like a video every couple of days.

@42:16 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah, that's right.

@42:17 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Or maybe it was every day they had a new video out.

@42:20 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I think it might have been every day.

@42:21 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Which is really wild because you're just like 12 days of like, oh, it's the new Metallica song.

@42:26 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Which is going on 10 years ago. How does that make you feel?

@42:29 - skwapich@shaw.ca

They don't even start with me with it. But yeah, I don't think that they really put that much weight anymore into like the order of the songs on an album.

@42:37 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Okay.

@42:37 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Because there's just no point to doing it, right?

@42:39 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

No, unless it's like a, or it's less a concept record where the order actually has meaning.

@42:44 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah, where it flows into one, into the next, into the next.

@42:46 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

If you're telling a complete story throughout the record. But obviously these two albums don't do that.

@42:51 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@42:52 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Not really. My opinion anyway. Okay. Moving on to.

@42:56 - skwapich@shaw.ca

The Last Note.

@42:57 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

The Last Note by Megadeth is... Yeah. Um, the longest song on the album, not by that much.

@43:05 - skwapich@shaw.ca

So it's still clocks in at 530. Well, technically Red Lightning is longer.

@43:09 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It's half of Inamorata.

@43:10 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah, it's wild.

@43:13 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Half. And Inamorata, in my opinion, is too short. You, I really do. I really do think it could have gone on for five more minutes.

Or 10.

@43:24 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Make it the new Inagata da Vida.

@43:26 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Right, exactly. Inamorata, Inagata da Vida.

@43:28 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It's all the same thing. Yes, dude, right there.

@43:31 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It's right there. You know, Dave should do spoken word.

@43:39 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It works very well.

@43:40 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It does. His voice, it lends really well to it. Like, cause it obviously the song opens with spoken word and then it ends with spoken word.

But I find what's in the middle of the song.

@43:50 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It kind of takes away from the song a little bit.

@43:51 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

really does. Like, it really does. Like, the song's fine. But it, it's not.

@43:58 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I like the song. Like. I think it's a good song. Sure. It's a good... Yeah.

@44:03 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Again, it's got the mid-tempo problem as I am war, another bad day.

@44:11 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@44:11 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Um, Hey God. Yeah. Hey God. Hey God. You know, it's just, it's just, it's just going right down Main Street.

Like it's, it's safe.

@44:19 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@44:19 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

But I kind of like it in the sense that it is definitely a song that's like building towards something.

But it never gets, but I don't think it ever gets there.

@44:28 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Right. It's not the journey of like inner Murata. Like inner Murata, go, on this like epic journey. Like you definitely feel yourself moving through different emotional states and like listening to it.

Yeah. And inner Murata is just so uniquely doom metal.

@44:42 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Like it's a doom metal song. It is.

@44:44 - skwapich@shaw.ca

That riff is so good in inner Murata though. It's that like, cause it's a little, it's a dissonant riff.

@44:54 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

They need to lean into this more when they're writing songs.

@44:59 - skwapich@shaw.ca

This song. To me, it's one of the top 10 Metallica songs of all time.

@45:04 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Like I said a couple years ago, if they never released another song, this is the perfect way to end it.

@45:09 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I agree.

@45:10 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Like, it's the with Iron Maiden and Hell on Earth. It's the same idea. song. Right?

@45:14 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@45:15 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Like, it doesn't... The song... And it's just all Hetfield. The song is all him. Like, it's insane. Obviously, except for the solos, but it's literally the rest of the song.

This whole 11-minute journey came out of him.

@45:29 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah. To me, this is a culmination of Outlaw, Torn, and Fixer. Like, it's like the part three of that, honestly.

Absolutely. Because it has the same... It evokes the same kind of emotional feelings for me. You know, like one guy in the desert dealing with his demons, so to speak.

And that's kind of like the Outlaw, Torn, Torn, Fixer.

@45:48 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It's like the Unforgiven trilogy.

@45:50 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Same idea, right? Yeah.

@45:52 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Getting redeemed at the end and all that stuff.

@45:53 - skwapich@shaw.ca

song closers instead of ones in the slot four or wherever they fit.

@45:57 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Right. Exactly. Yeah, that's the thing.

@46:00 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah, absolutely.

@46:01 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

no, don't know. Inamorata for me is the best song they've put out this whole century. Aside from, like we talked before we went on, like, it's as good as Bleeding Me.

@46:09 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Like it's, I would agree with that.

@46:12 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Send it back 30 years and it would fit. Oh, you could put it on reload. You could put it, no, it wouldn't fit on load, but you could put it on reload.

@46:18 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Really. I mean, Inamorata feels like it's off load or reload, honestly. Like it's got the same production quality to it, but like there, I can't even put my finger on it.

It's just, it's just uniquely different from what you're used to for Metallica. And maybe that's why we love it so much is that you hear the song and all of a sudden it's just filling dopamine levels from a different angle, really.

And you're just like, I don't think I've ever heard them really do a song like this, you know, and, but, and they pull it off.

@46:49 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Immaculantly well.

@46:50 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It's a great song. And that middle section in the, where everything quietens down, quietens down. It's just like the hi-hat and the.

@47:00 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I wish bass would have been a little bit louder, like if they would have moved him up, if he would have sleepwalked my life away, bring Rob right up to the front and have him play something really dynamic and meaningful.

@47:11 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah, it's kind of just there to support the drums, really, right? That's yeah. There's no lead bass or anything.

@47:18 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

That's what he needed, that was his moment to cement him in the pantheon of Metallica bass players of the To Live Is To Die, My Friend In Miseries, Orion's, Cthulhu's, you name it, right?

It's, that could have put him there.

@47:32 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I think, I think the theory behind that though is just like, it's about James's emotional voice in that moment.

And so, because he's so tender in that moment that you kind of almost have to quiet the instruments down to like, fill that, so it's like, the voice is the central part of that middle point and what he's saying, like, she needs me, she needs me more.

@47:59 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah.

@48:00 - skwapich@shaw.ca

You know, so if you have the instruments overpower that you kind of lose the emotional quality of his message in his voice.

So I don't mind it, but I know what you're saying. This would have been prime for some crazy Rob stuff.

@48:15 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

even, yeah, just something.

@48:16 - skwapich@shaw.ca

But it doesn't have to be crazy, but something a little more, a little extra. Yes, a little extra.

@48:19 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Just listen to the sauce. You know, I need some more sauce on my pasta.

@48:23 - skwapich@shaw.ca

You know, other than that, the song's 11 God, that middle part is so good. It's so good.

@48:28 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

And then the outro solos and it's just, oh my God, the drums just ramp up and up and up and up and up.

And then you get the double kick at the end and then just boom.

@48:38 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I do have, I do have one slight problem with the song. And I think it's a missed opportunity because I think they go, they go from like, it's the songs in three parts, right?

There's like the first, whatever, four minutes of the song. Then you have the entire middle part. And then they pretty much go back to like the four minutes of the beginning near the end.

And with some slight variation. Right? Which is one way of writing the song because you're sandwiching the song, right?

Like there's, you know, it's bread, meat, bread, basically, to use a weird food analogy for some reason.

@49:09 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Well, we've been doing it all night, so why not?

@49:11 - skwapich@shaw.ca

But I feel like, what would it have sounded like if you took it to a completely different level or different thing?

@49:21 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It's too short.

@49:22 - skwapich@shaw.ca

It could been A, B, and C, right? Like you could have done something different near the end.

@49:25 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Not ABA, but yeah.

@49:27 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@49:27 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

ABA variant.

@49:29 - skwapich@shaw.ca

And I wonder if they ever thought about that or explored that or if it was just, if it was this way from the beginning and, because this was like written a long time ago.

Like it wasn't, it wasn't the last song that they just threw together. They've been working on the song since Hardwired, I believe.

Oh, really? I've read that.

@49:44 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I've read that somewhere, but I, I believe it, but it would be cool. Like, like I was saying before the song's too short.

Okay.

@49:51 - skwapich@shaw.ca

If you go A, B, A, and then, then like, then go to C.

@49:55 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah. And then you add a couple more minutes.

@49:57 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Two minutes, two, three minutes of a lecture or something like that.

@50:00 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Something, right? Of just a closing passage and then...

@50:03 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Well, I'm thinking like Outlaw Torn, you know, like there's a very distinct end part, boom, like it's like the outro lick.

@50:10 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

With that jammy part.

@50:12 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@50:12 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah, then the drums slowly go from like halftime to just a standard beat and there's groove.

@50:17 - skwapich@shaw.ca

The Outlaw Torn is such a good song.

@50:20 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Wish I'd play it more.

@50:21 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Dude, to me, it seems like a trilogy, Outlaw Torn, Fixer, and Murata. Like it just seems so obvious to me, right?

Because it's... They're all around the same length.

@50:29 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Someone like out of control, Fixer's cry for help, in a Murata is finding the help and beating your demons.

@50:35 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Or the wrong help. Or Because in a Murata is the mistress, right? She is the mistress.

@50:40 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

So... She is. She's a bad lady.

@50:42 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@50:43 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

She's a meanie. So there we go. We did it.

@50:45 - skwapich@shaw.ca

We did it.

@50:46 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

So what did we... We agreed on what? In a Murata, Room of Mirrors.

@50:50 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yes.

@50:51 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

We did not agree on... We did not agree on Too Far Gone. No. Or did you take Megadeth as well on Too Far Gone?

@50:58 - skwapich@shaw.ca

No, I took Too Far Gone.

@51:00 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Okay we did not agree on that.

@51:01 - skwapich@shaw.ca

We agreed on Darkness.

@51:03 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yes.

@51:04 - skwapich@shaw.ca

We agreed on Crown.

@51:05 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yes.

@51:07 - skwapich@shaw.ca

We agreed on what was Lux Eterna was what? That was Puppet Parade.

@51:13 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

So we agreed on Puppet Parade. we took Puppet Parade. I think You Must Burn and I took the Megadeth.

No we did not Let There Be Shred. No we agreed on You Must Burn. I took Hey God You Took Screaming Suicide.

@51:28 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah.

@51:31 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

And then I took Tipping Point.

@51:34 - skwapich@shaw.ca

I took 72 Seasons.

@51:35 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah. Oh no I Don't Care was up against.

@51:38 - skwapich@shaw.ca

You took Sleepwalk. I took I Don't Care.

@51:41 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

You took Hey God.

@51:43 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Or Hey God.

@51:43 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah. then you took I Don't if one of us wrote this down.

@51:45 - skwapich@shaw.ca

So yeah we you know we're just winging it.

@51:48 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

This is full full wing. So yeah but you know what I thought I was gonna go way higher on the Megadeth side but think when when I talk to you about these things and you explain to me when you about Megadeth Megadeth side talk

I, a lot of these songs are better, I understand why they're better, and I just, I just don't hear it that way until I have your wise words.

@52:10 - skwapich@shaw.ca

beauty, this is how, this is the beauty of music and why different people, people take different things away from certain songs, right, and you have opened my eyes on many songs in my lifetime where it's like I didn't see it that way, right, because they didn't connect inside of me to certain aspects of the song, and they're like, well, I like it because this, this, and this, this, I'm like, I get it, I get it now, you know.

So, for, you know, so, I don't know, like, I don't think it's, I, I thought going into this I was just going to be all Metallica, but I'm quietly surprised in myself that I actually prefer some Megadeth songs over, I'm shocked you took, hey God, I'm shocked you took, dude, I just, I think it's such a fun song, I just like it, good song, it's good song, it's yeah, yeah, and you can, like you said, you connect, sometimes you connect differently with things, and we've had, obviously.

@53:00 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

We've had three years of 70 Seasons, and not that we listened to it ever, like it's like I put it on last week for the first time, like literally the whole record for the first time, probably since 2023.

@53:11 - skwapich@shaw.ca

The only time I listened to it is when songs, I have like a thousand song playlist that I use at the gym.

It's like our metal bangers and whatnot.

@53:18 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

And so it'll come on from time to time.

@53:21 - skwapich@shaw.ca

But I do find myself skipping a lot of Metallica songs in the gym because I've heard them 50 million times.

I've Enter Sandman 400 million times, right? And I know it's a great song and it's a great workout song and blah, blah, blah.

But sometimes because I've heard the song so many times, I want like a newer song that I'm not too familiar with to like, you know, something to get too excited, right?

Yeah. Yeah.

@53:42 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

So I hear that. So there we go.

@53:45 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yeah, there it is.

@53:46 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

32 Seasons wins again. Or wins. So we've done, this will probably be our last Metallica Megadeth battle because let's be honest, there's not a lot of comparisons like we did Justice and Rustin.

@54:01 - skwapich@shaw.ca

We're going to compare Dave's solo album to James' solo album.

@54:06 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

When those come out, we will definitely do that, because you know Dave's putting something else out. He's not done, and Metallica's going to put something else out, too.

@54:13 - skwapich@shaw.ca

If James ever does a solo album, I honestly think it'll sound way different than Metallica. I think it'll be more like Southern rock with a lot of acoustic and stuff like that.

@54:22 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

He's always said Metallica's like his side project, where he just plays whatever he wants.

@54:27 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Metallica, and it's Metallica.

@54:28 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

And that's it, right? He need to do a solo the other stuff he writes, he doesn't want anyone hearing anyway.

But I'd like to hear him do something cool, like have him do an album of collaborations, like even bring other singers in with Metallica, and have like, featuring Chris Stapleton or...

@54:43 - skwapich@shaw.ca

His daughter? His daughter's a good singer, too?

@54:46 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Absolutely, or Chris Isaac when he did Nothing Else Matters a thousand years ago, or whoever, just like they did them all.

I'm not going to say this to another Lulu, but...

@54:55 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Oh, God!

@54:57 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I am the table. But, uh... Well, think we should end it on that note.

@55:01 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yes.

@55:02 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

And that was fun.

@55:04 - skwapich@shaw.ca

This was your life.

@55:06 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

This was just your life. So thank you for listening and supporting and downloading and all that mumbo jumbo.

@55:14 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Yes.

@55:14 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yes. Okay. We'll see you on the next one. No, flip-flop. On the flip-flop.

@55:22 - skwapich@shaw.ca

Bye.

@55:24 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

There we go. That's that and a bag of chips. I got my...