MEGADETH’s ‘Killing Is My Business’ Was Originally A Lot Slower Until One Fan Compared The Band To METALLICA

Dave Mustaine Lars Ulrich

Former MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson has launched “The Killing Chronicles,” a series of online recollections about the band’s early days, including MEGADETH‘s first gigs and the making of the group’s classic debut album, Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good!.

The online series comes a week after it was announced that Ellefson and ex-MEGADETH guitarist Jeff Young will embark the KINGS OF THRASH “The MEGA Years” tour. They will be joined at the dates by another former MEGADETH guitarist, Chris Poland. Band also includes drummer Fred Aching and guitarist/vocalist Chaz Leon.

Now, in episode three of “The Killing Chronicles,” Ellefson shares: “It’s widely known that the KIMB album is one of the fastest Thrash albums ever to descend upon mankind. However, rapid fire tempos in the band was not always the case. When we formed the group and first batch of songs were being composed in mid to late 1983, the tempos were much, much slower. In fact, almost at a BLACK SABBATH tempo. I recall ‘The Skull Beneath the Skin’ being almost half the tempo as it was finally recorded, which gave it this monstrous groove and weight. The same was true with ‘Chosen Ones’ which allowed me to play the bass lines with my fingers in a more Geezer-esque manner.

He continued: “However, one day a fan letter showed up to our mailbox addressed to Dave [Mustaine] which pleaded, ‘I hope your new band is faster than METALLICA‘ and BOOM that was it…game over! That night at rehearsal, all the tempos were increased dramatically (20-40 beats per minute minimum!) and thus the KIMB LP represents a true turning point in the trajectory of speed being the primary calling card of cool factor with the founding fathers of the Thrash genre. EXODUS was already fast as hell and once Kerry King had seen them live, SLAYER would follow suit.

“On the Kings of Thrash tour we’re excited to highlight these finer details of the songs without losing any of the ‘teeth’ which made the album a staple in Thrash metal all these years later.”