MEGADETH: Complete 'Warchest' Box Set Details Revealed

MEGADETH's Dave Mustaine and Capitol/EMI have collaborated to create and deploy the ultimate MEGADETH box set: "Warchest". The 4-CD+DVD collection features more than six hours of digitally remastered content, hand-selected by Mustaine, including 30 audio and video tracks making their global release debuts, and an additional three tracks that have never before been released in the U.S. "Warchest"'s October 2 release caps Mustaine and Capitol/EMI's in-depth MEGADETH catalog remastering and restoration campaign, which has encompassed the band's Capitol studio albums, while also adding new audio and video collections to the band's arsenal.

Armed with digitally remastered career-defining album cuts, soundtrack and compilation sides, unreleased live and studio performances and interview clips spanning more than 20 years, "Warchest" is the ultimate MEGADETH compendium. Included in the trove are a full 75-minute live set from a night on the 1990 "Clash of the Titans" tour and a DVD of highlights from a 1992 stop supporting "Countdown To Extinction" — two historical shows, both making their release debuts on "Warchest". The set's custom "vac-u-form" packaging showcases a 3-D ammo belt on its front and a 36-page booklet with an essay by Ian Christe and a comprehensive discography, complemented by an array of photos and images.

Dave Mustaine says, "This is, by far, the best and most comprehensive look at all-things-MEGA if you had to get a crash-course in metal! With some of the most famous, and infamous, shows and any of the fluid, or flammable, line-ups, listening to this box set when it was all done was an adrenalin surge. I have got to hand it to my past band mates, they played great for how turbulent times could get in the blink of an eye, and I absolutely love every moment of this collection."

MEGADETH was formed in 1983, shortly after California native Mustaine parted ways with METALLICA. "When I first started the group, I wanted to form a band because I was very bitter about being fired (from METALLICA) and my fuel was revenge," said the bracingly candid musician. With something to prove, Mustaine initially set out to create the heaviest metal band ever. Beginning with the band's 1985 debut album, "Killing Is My Business ... And Business Is Good!", and evolving through a shifting series of lineups, MEGADETH crafted a dynamic, intelligent style that combined the aggressiveness of thrash metal, the improvisational nature of jazz, and cynical, articulate, politically-charged lyrics into an innovative mix that built a rabid worldwide following.

Several early albums, including 1986's classic "Peace Sells ... But Who's Buying?" and the masterful 1990 release, "Rust In Peace", solidified the band's underground metal fanbase. In 1992, MEGADETH burst into the mainstream with their fifth album, "Countdown To Extinction", which debuted at #2 on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart and went on to sell more than two million copies in the U.S. alone. 1994's "Youthanasia" followed with a #4 debut, while 1997's "Cryptic Writings" yielded four Top 20 hits at rock radio, including "Trust" and "Almost Honest". By the time of 1999's "Risk", however, which featured a pop slant unheard on previous MEGADETH recordings, Mustaine himself began to grow disillusioned with the band's direction and the music industry. 2001 saw a return to the band's heavier roots on "The World Needs A Hero", but a year later, a compressed nerve in Mustaine's arm forced the singer and guitarist to put his career and MEGADETH on hiatus, while reassessing both.

Part of that reassessment involved MEGADETH's Capitol Records catalog, which began with the band's second album, "Peace Sells ... But Who's Buying?" "I always had the desire to make 'So Far, So Good ... So What!' (1988) sound good ever since it came out, because I wasn't really happy with it," says Mustaine. "I just wanted all of them to sound good." Mustaine spent months remixing, remastering, restoring — and in some cases, reconstructing — the band's Capitol catalog to bring it as close to his original vision as possible. Each reissue was packed with unreleased tracks, demos and alternate mixes, as well as new liner notes by the iconoclastic Mustaine.

MEGADETH's tenth studio album, 2004's "The System Has Failed", debuted at #18 on Billboard's Top 200, and the band's sold-out "Blackmail The Universe" tour followed, supporting the new album and Capitol's extensive catalog campaign. Dave Mustaine's Gigantour, inspired in name by the classic 1960s cartoon "Gigantor", took MEGADETH and a host of other bands selected by Mustaine across North America and in 2005 and 2006. The prophecy continues with the band's new critically acclaimed album, "United Abominations". MEGADETH will invade cities across the U.S. this fall on the band's "United Abominations Tour Of Duty".

"Warchest" track listing:

Disc One:

01. Killing Is My Business ... And Business Is Good!
02. The Skull Beneath The Skin
03. Peace Sells
04. Wake Up Dead
05. Devils Island
06. Set The World Afire
07. Into The Lungs Of Hell
08. Anarchy/Problems [session take] *
09. Hook In Mouth
10. Liar
11. In My Darkest Hour
12. No More Mr. Nice Guy
13. "dark themes ..." *
14. Holy Wars ... The Punishment Due [Casey McMackin demo] *
15. Tornado Of Souls [demo] *
16. Five Magics [demo] *
17. Hangar 18

Disc Two:

01. "keeping score ..." *
02. Symphony Of Destruction
03. Go To Hell
04. Foreclosure Of A Dream
05. Architecture Of Aggression [demo] ^
06. Skin O' My Teeth [live at Alpine Valley, East Troy, WI 5/23/92]
07. High Speed Dirt [live at Alpine Valley, East Troy, WI 5/23/92]
08. Ashes In Your Mouth [live at the Cow Palace, S.F., CA 12/4/92]
09. Sweating Bullets [live at the Cow Palace, S.F., CA 12/4/92]
10. Breakpoint [session take] *
11. Angry Again
12. Train Of Consequences
13. Reckoning Day
14. New World Order
15. The Killing Road
16. Strange Ways
17. Paranoid
18. Diadems
19. A Tout Le Monde

Disc Three:

01. Trust
02. Almost Honest
03. Use The Man
04. She-Wolf
05. A Secret Place [live at Woodstock, NY 7/25/99]
06. One Thing ^
07. Duke Nukem
08. Insomnia
09. Crush 'Em
10. Kill The King
11. Dread And The Fugitive Mind
12. Never Say Die
13. Moto Psycho
14. 1000 Times Goodbye
15. Coming Home ^
16. Kick The Chair
17. Of Mice And Men

Disc Four:

All tracks recorded live at Wembley Stadium, London, England 10/16/90

01. Intro/Rattlehead
02. Wake Up Dead *
03. Hangar 18 *
04. Hook In Mouth *
05. The Skull Beneath The Skin *
06. The Conjuring *
07. In My Darkest Hour *
08. Lucretia *
09. Devils Island *
10. Take No Prisoners *
11. Peace Sells *
12. Black Friday *
13. Holy Wars ... The Punishment Due *
14. It's Electric *
15. Anarchy In The U.K. *

Disc Five [DVD]

All tracks recorded live at Hammersmith Odeon, London, England 9/30/92

01. Intro/Holy Wars ... The Punishment Due *
02. Wake Up Dead *
03. Hangar 18 *
04. Lucretia *
05. Sweating Bullets *
06. In My Darkest Hour *
07. Tornado Of Souls *
08. Ashes In Your Mouth *
09. Peace Sells *
10. Anarchy In The U.K. *

* previously unreleased
^ previously unreleased in the U.S.

Recording personnel:

Dave Mustaine - vocals, lead & rhythm guitars (1983-present)
Glen Drover - guitars & bkg vocals (2005-present)
Al Pitrelli - lead & rhythm guitars (2000-2002)
Marty Friedman - lead & rhythm guitars (1990-1999)
Jeff Young - lead & rhythm guitars (1988)
Chris Poland - lead & rhythm guitars (1984-1987, 2004)
James Lorenzo - bass guitar & bkg vocals (2006-present)
James MacDonough - bass guitar (2004-2006)
Jimmie Lee Sloas - bass guitar (2004)
David Ellefson - bass guitar & bkg vocals (1983-2002)
Shawn Drover - drums & bkg vocals (2005-present)
Vinnie Colaiuta - drums (2004)
Jimmy DeGrasso - drums (1998-2002)
Nick Menza - drums & bkg vocals (1989-1998)
Chuck Behler - drums (1988)
Gar Samuelson - drums (1984-1987)