First published 2020
Dave Mustaine sits in the studio in 1990, watching his band Megadeth struggle to create their next album. The pressure mounts as Slayer, Anthrax, and Metallica dominate the charts with powerful new releases. Mustaine must navigate the brutal process of hiring musicians, managing volatile personalities, and controlling the chaos that threatens to destroy everything they've built. Success brings new demons. Alcohol flows freely, drugs cloud judgment, and money corrupts relationships. The music industry feeds the band lies while band members deceive each other. Fame transforms friends into enemies as egos clash and excess takes control. Megadeth faces an inevitable breakup, but the music they created during this turbulent period becomes their lasting legacy. The album's birth represents just the beginning of a longer journey through the dark side of rock stardom, where external pressures and internal conflicts corrode the band's foundation like metal exposed to the elements.
Genres: biography-memoir, music
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: band-drama, music-creation
Period: 1990
208 pages · Hardcover · Da Capo
Content warnings: addiction, substance-abuse