I think you are full of it. The remasters sound way better. I had all the cassette tapes. I was not born yesterday like you. I am a metal drummer and know every Megadeth song to date.

Take No Prisoners remaster breaks my heart worse than leaving my wife did 😂

Don't "fix" what's not broken. Not gonna win any favor saying Youth is your fav Megadeth album but I understand. I love it.

Five magics is what made me notice how much better the original recordings are. The vocals of the original are so raw, and I was amazed listening to the better version for the first time.

Being a musician/audio engineer, I often if/ how much the loss of hearing by the the artist (in this case mustaine) comes in to play when they remaster/remix. What sounded great years ago might not sound as good today. Years back I assisted with the recording of an song where one of the guitar players was a Vietnam vet, who struggled with hearing high frequency due to his hearing loss due to gunfire. He was complaining constantly about the bass being too loud, but the rest of us are looking around like "what bass?". All that being said , the constant full volume concerts are sure to take a toll, especially in the younger days when you think you are invincible.

Poor “So Far So Good So What”was hit the hardest. The original was so wrathful that the remasters watered it down.

I feel like the Five Magics remaster sounds the worst specifically because of the voice pitch shifter

When they did the remaster of Five Magics in 2004 with Ellefson's first departure, they changed Satan's voice in the gang-vocals at the end of the song to Fat Albert's.

They weren’t remasters. They were complete remixes, sometimes outright re-recording parts. They’re a travesty. What they did to Nick Menza’s drums especially, was horrifying. Also hate them giving such sharp, software drums to So Far, So Good.. That big 80’s snare sounds perfect for that stuff. Especially on a slower track like In My Darkest Hour.

Definitely seems like they also got caught up in the loudness wars. The original Rust in Peace master is actually pretty quiet overall (I remember I'd always have to turn my stereo up a couple of notches when playing it vs. other albums), but with a pretty good dynamic range; the remaster is loud and compressed all to hell. I quite regret not keeping the original CD. Who knew that in the future the only available digital versions would be the worst ones.

I hate how Spotify has basically only the remasters the originals sound way better, remasters sound more artificial.

This is really interesting. I'm not a huge Megadeth fan so I'm not hearing these changes with a fan's ear but it's pretty obvious that these aren't remasters but remixes, and in some cases re-recordings, sold as remasters with an overt task to "modernise" the original sound. There's an attempt to widen the frequency range of every instrument in order to provide a more consistent bass and also to mono that bass so it stretches across the stereo-width of the track as a solid block, which muddies the original's clean and spaced instruments. The changing of the guitar effects, like the reverb used, doesn't help either. To a non-fan, though, this might actually make these songs easier to listen to but it all comes at the expense of actual fans' memories and the sound that made the band popular in the first place. The separation of instruments in the mix and the aggressive and "dry" sounding guitars are just gone. The removal/replacement of secondary and tertiary instrument tracks, and the rounding off on the high frequency on the guitars, was likely done to make the music sound less harsh to the general music audience and an easier fit with "modern" radio and TV broadcasts. If it had just been a remaster you wouldn't have lost any elements, they'd just have been slightly reduced or increased. I would argue that using the term "warm" about the originals isn't the best word to describe their sound. The added bass response of the 2004 versions actually provides a warmth that wasn't there originally. But I know what you mean. These do sound wrong. You are entirely correct in that it just about throws everything that made the originals sound like they did in the garbage. It's a great example of revisionist history. Was George Lucas brought in to produce these?

The main reason as to why Youthanasia's 2004 remaster sounds horrible is because of what Dave Mustaine did to all the tracks. During the Gibson TV interview he did 2 years ago, Dave Mustaine basically explained how after Rust in Peace their songs started to take on a heavy metal and hard rock tempo, with Youthanasia in particular having a 120 BPM as a standard tempo. During the remaster stage Dave Mustaine stated that he didn't like the slow tempo so he decided to speed up the tracks. Add that with all the bad stuff with the remasters like the drumming and vocals and thats how you completely alter an album from its original state.

The remasters completely ruined the feel of SFSGSW, the snare hit right before the main verse in set the world afire is lethal and they removed it. Super specific but its my favorite moment of the song.

I prefer the 2018 KIMB because there was so much detail I was missing in the guitar work on the OG. It made me appreciate the songwriting and performance a whole lot more.

Imagine my delight a few weeks ago when I discovered that the originals were finally returned to Spotify 🙂

I've only recently gotten into Megadeth properly, and didn't know about the whole remastering stuff, so when I bought Rust in Peace and Countdown on CD, I didn't realise what I was buying. I figured that the 2004 remaster would just be tweaked a little bit and boosted, as is often the case with remasters. When I found out I had to go on eBay and find the originals. Fortunately Megadeth CDs tend to be on sale pretty cheap these days.

I think the main problem with the remixes is that they replaced the snare drum with the same sample on everything, and the snare drum is key to the distinct character of a recording.

My guess is the originals were mastered with a premiere analog soundboard / mixing desk, and the remasters were done completely in an Avid/Mac. Also, Dave Mustaine is approving the remasters, and his hearing is damaged from years of touring. He is boosting the mids and high range so he can hear it!

A few of the Ozzy remasters in the early 2000s replaced the bass and drums because of legal issues. I think Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of A Madman. They eventually restored the original parts and re released them again. The original Iron Maidens cds are better than the remasters but at least they didn't remix or replace anything

I’m just happy that the original versions are available on Spotify 😅

My original cassette of Countdown To Extinction broke and I was terribly disappointed when I bought the 2004 remaster cd. It sounded like Nick Menza's drums had been replaced by a drum machine and there was something off about the rest of the sound that I couldn't put my finger on. Its only saving grace was that there were bonus tracks I didn't have on the cassette. I converted all my cassettes I collected since the 1990s to mp3 in the last decade and even though Rust In Peace didn't have the same sound quality anymore from being played so much, there was no way I was getting the 2004 remaster of any other of their albums after the Countdown experience. I never liked Youthanasia and didn't even listen to Risk when I read the reviews so I never bought those albums.

The Rust in Peace remaster was the first time in my life that I said "this doesn't sound like the album that I listened to before, this is bad" but I didn't know how bad the whole remaster thing was with Megadeth albums. For Reference: I'm a 2000 baby, so when I started listening to Megadeth around 2009-ish on youtube and stuff, when I got a CD of Rust in Peace in like 2014 I listened to it and I was like "is this really how the album sounded like?"

The first remastering I heard was SFSGSW and I was negatively shocked... the original sounded scaring but very interesting, with that chaotic and apocalyptic tone made by tons of chorus/flanger/reverb effects (and so far I've never heard a similar thing in a metal album...). Now it sounds too "harmless" and clean, removing layers of mystery and near-missing instruments, so typical in their first four LPs and like another (in)famous title, And Justice for All, where apparently there is no bass, but it gives a particular tone in a very subtle way. By the way, I'm glad that Metallica won't remaster their old material as Ulrich said every album took the exactly picture of their sound at that time and they're not going to revisit it again.

⁠I had the original CDs back in the day.. Rust in Peace was one of the first 3 CDs I ever bought when CDs were a new thing.. When I heard the remaster on a streaming service I instantly thought “this is completely wrong” as in.. these are even different note choices in key solos… I guess being a musician it was more obvious(?) But yeah that EQ choice and Dave doing a different monster voice in “5 magics” was a deal breaker.. it was a whole different tune at that point 🤮 Subbed!

I may be wrong but I much prefer the 2004 remaster for Peace sells... But for the rest, I always prefer the original.

Using new vocals for the Rust in Peace tracks was unforgivable ❤

To be fair, some of the vocals had to be retracked because some the original tapes weren't preserved very well and some dropped out or were nearly inaudible when they transferred them all for just a remix and remaster. I'm pretty sure there were also other issues at play to prevent him from scrapping the remasters as well. I do agree tho, younger Mustaine on Five Magicks certainly sounded more fierce than the retracks!

I had the countdown remastered! Def something was different nice to know now, you got a new sub! Please make a video about the Brazilian band Angra!

I love this youtube channel! You make incredible videos! I really enjoyed the videos on spirit crusher and how death writes songs, those videos came in a very convienient time as i just discovered death. Keep it up

i love this channel, very cozy metal content that covers exactly the type of stuff i like

The joy I feel finding this channel, and video especially. I have been saying this for a decade plus, literally went out and bought all the originals I could because the Remasters are indeed cold and soulless.

a perfect example of the remasters being worse is take no prisoners, its one of my favourite songs of all time and they just slaughtered that awesome deep chanting voice in the beginning to sounding like some really sad teen who lost his ipod

Wow. I’ve always listened to the Originals, but now I’m definitely going to check on any Remastered Albums. Thanks, subscribed 🙂

These remasters is not just remasters: So, what's a remix versus a remaster? To understand the difference between a remix and remaster, remember the steps to get to a finished song or album go (more or less) as follows: write, record, mix, and master. So if a remaster is redoing that final step, a remix logically goes back to the mixing stage. -Jasper Lastoria

I came to really like Megadeth later on into my late 20's and had always seen the people that hated the 2004 remasters and just hated remasters in general, so I never really cared what the consensus was on whether to buy the 2004 remaster albums or not, since I just wanted to hear the music. The algorithm graced me with this video, and finally hearing them side by side, holy crap, yeah, I get it. Great video, can't wait to hear more from you!

I love this, great work.

The only redeeming quality of the remasters is that they sound better than the originals when played through bad Bluetooth speakers or phones. Nothing like putting on some Megadeth whilst doing the dishes or working in the garage 😂

Liked and subscribed, because I completely agree with your takes. The only thing I like better about the remasters is the two bars added to the intro of ‘In my darkest hour’ (song trashed in remaster) and the “give me alchemy” part of five magics, however only the way he re-organized the lyrics. Other than that the remasters are a travesty, especially five magics, and So far, so good … So what.

I agree, The Final Kill is the only improvement for the Megadeth remasters.🤘🏻

Your doing a great job bro, loved your video on spirit crusher, your definitely on a big come up for the channel

I read somewhere that Mustaine claimed that the remasters are the way he wanted to do the albums, I was disappointed in the remasters, only thing they needed was clean the sound up and raise the overall volume a bit

Menzas drums had so much tone and depth, then then put the same Ringy/Clicky snare sample across pretty much ALL his albums. And it drives me NUTS!

I feel terrible for kids finding out about Megadeth with these remasters out there on spotfy and youtube; Capitol as terrible as it could've been probably could afford the best producers out there and it tells.. especially on later albums Cryptic w., Youthnasia and Countdown which are superb mixes and productions but also the classic ones

Dave Mustard was busy becoming god bro. What can I say? ❤

Not a hot take at all. 2018 KIMB remaster sounds incredible. I love hearing Gar's patterns on the double kick of Mechanix for example. I never catched that swing pattern on the original. The only exception would be the re-recording of these boots, but oh well.

Dude, you nailed this! I actually agree with every point🤜🤛

You are right the original sounds much warmer, more organic and soulful. Thanks for the content!

I think a person’s age has a greater impact on their ear than anyone likes to admit. I was born in the 70s and started recording in the mid 80s. I watched the analog warmth of vinyl being replaced by crystal highs and bone shaking bass of digital. The high hats had a hiss that though artificial in isolation, sat in the mix more naturally. The bass filled the remaining frequencies, completing the spectrum. The 90s saw the rise of car stereo boxes with 18” subs. Now people were buying music specifically for the low frequencies. Everything had a bit of a mid scoop. Analog started making a comeback by 00s. Tubes and analog warmth were the answer to the harsh flatness of digital recordings, when computers replaced reel to reel. That Ampex refrigerator had been replaced by a laptop. I’m recalling this history because I think it plays the biggest role in our tastes. At some point we all heard that one record or song that was mixed just right. From that point on, “that was what music is supposed to sound like” was etched into our brains.

I had the original copies and when I heard my son playing a re-master, I could immediately tell they were def different

Unbelievable!….i was just about to re-purchase some megadeth cds that were stolen. And i thought “awesome!….they are remastered!” But thanks to you, ill be seeking the originals!!!

the remasters sound so fucken muffled like im listening to speakers wrapped in pillows.

I made the mistake years ago and bought the 2004 remake of Rust In Peace. I could instantly tell the vocals and music weren't quite right. So I deleted it and re-ripped my original Rust in Peace CD. As for the other early albums up to Youthanasia and Cryptic Writings. They are all the original releases that I own in my collection.

Cryptic Writings is underrated and arguably the bands most solid lineup. I know that album gets alot of flack but ive always loved it.

You are 💯 🎯 Have a Happy New Year 🎉

It’s like Dave had damaged his hearing so much that he couldn’t hear cymbals anymore so left them out. The width of the mix is also gone with most things mixed towards the centre. It sounds like it was recorded in a lifeless garage. If you took the cymbals out of a Meshuggah track you’d be lost as they mostly define the timing.

Oh yes... I grew up on the originals and when I first heard the remasters, I was horrified. In no way are they better. It's mystifying.

Five Magics "remaster" has two lines rearranged (Wizardry Alchemy) and it literally kills me every time, because that song's solos are so wicked awesome.

I met Dave Mustaine when the Risk album shortly came out (summer of 1999). I haven’t listened to Megadeth since..

Youthanasia is my favorite album from Megadeth too. The production and song writing is incredible and gets better with time.

Not sure why everyone has a problem with Youthanasia being someone's favorite Megadeth album, or why so many people focused on it. It's a great album and is definitely a great starting point for people new to Megadeth, or just a bad ass album to listen to on a road trip. Keep up the videos!

I know you’re a new channel man, gotta remember to cut out when you restart line, if there maybe a way to pin spots in the editing software maybe that could help, keep up the good work

I totally agree with you. I born in the 80s and followed Megadeth since I was 6 yo. I believe those remastered tracks are soulless pieces of something that should not be touched… Ever.

i picked up killing is My Business when it was released. The songs were great in my opinion but the production was a massive disappointment. I'm so glad they got around to putting out a decent remaster. As for the others, I couldn't agree more. Should be called the De-masters

The Cryptic Writings remix and remaster was diabolical. Glad I have the OG CD. Mustaine stripped out loads of the original bits

Finally! Somebody said it!! Thanks for the video!!

The best way to sum it up is by popping in Countdown to Extinction. First track right off the bat. Skin o' My Teeth. That drum intro. Without Menza there was no soul...

I thought the remasters of Killing Is My Business and Peace Sells sounded much better than the original versions, which I originally had on vinyl and later on the initial CD release. I thought there was much better separation on the instruments, instead of just sounding like one big heavy mush. I particularly liked that I could distinctly hear Ellefson's bass lines much better, which was ironic because this was at the point where he had been kicked out of the band for the first time. The other remasters, however, sounded fine to begin with and didn't really need to be "improved."

The 2004 version of Five Magics sounds so dorky when he does the distorted voice.

Megadeth has been my favorite band since 2011, when I was 14 years-old and was going through my "metal phase" I agree with everything said on this video, I don't understand why Dave decided to remix the whole catalogue. As you said, KIMB... ABIG is the only exception to this, all the rest sounds bad. It's like they just hired a guy to put everything up to 100% and called it done. It's just too loud and the result killed off all the sound dynamics characteristic from the analog era of recording. I love Megadeth but I never hear them on Spotify because most of the albums there are all remastered versions.. Thankfully I kept the original tracks from the 4shared era of download piracy safe on a flash drive😂

I'm glad it's not just me. I've added mega death to my Spotify playlist and a lot of the albums or the remasters and I remember thinking how bad it sounded compared to what I remember growing up as a teenager. I listen to their CDs a lot back then so I was very familiar with the sound

In an interview around this time, Dave specifically mentioned how much he hated the shakers in Youthanasia. I also remember years before, he mentioned how he felt thr Led Zeppelin remasters took away from then magic of the originals.

I actually think the SFSGSW remaster might actually be the worst example of taking the soul out of the music. Also, the synth-horns in the intro track are turned up and sound so cheesy rather than just being in the background and much more subtle.

I subscribed I love I’m all about stuff like this I just hadn’t been able to talk about music like in these terms to anyone around me

They’re absolutely unlistenable for someone like me who grew up listening to the Combat Records version of Peace Sells.

The drums were stripped of life!

I'm a musician myself and honestly the difference is so little it essentially makes no difference Edit: Wait I was hearing the version I have without knowing it's the original thinking it was the remaster, Jesus the remaster suuuucks I just went to hear it

I really appreciated the example of Blood of Heroes. Apple music had removed the original mixes from my library and replaced them with the 2004 versions without my knowledge so when I played it something felt wrong about the song immediately. I checked and realised the changes and had to go to KZfaq to find the OG mix. I heard the familiar tone and shouted 'What the fuck did you do THAT for?!'

Oof i really wasn't paying the attention i should have. thanks for making this video!

Holy shit! I've never been a huge Megadeth fan in general, but Countdown To Extinction is etched in my brain since listening to it constantly in the 90's. Hade never heard of the 2004 remasters before, had to compare on Spotify for myself, and good grief they really are terrible, maybe even worse than it comes across in the vid. Already the intro on Skin O' My Teeth was enough to hear it was real, night and day. Like someone took a wet blanket covered in mud and draped it over it all and then passed it through a bad MP3 encoder, and sample-replaced some drums (and lots more probably) with out of place sounding ones for good measure. Especially the drums and cymbals, hat's, rides and crashes are almost gone completely, dull and lifeless if there at all, and in some parts the rhythm that made the song really good in the first place is just gone (verse on Countdown for example). How did these atrocities ever get released? Had the band gone deaf and been surrounded by yes-men at this point? I'm at a complete loss for words. Only swear words come to mind now.

Having bought the CD of So far so good... back in 1988, I was shocked at the horrible 2004 Remaster. I only bought some the other CDs to get the bonus tracks, which were decent at times. This situation made me aware that not all remixes make a better product. As for Killing is my business... I think the remaster is passable, but the censoring of "These Boots" is just silly.

Great video man, one critique, I would double check the audio in post to make sure you don't repeat something just stated.

Hard agree on Killing is my Business, the remaster is the only exception. As a Megadeth fan from Rust in Peace, I couldn't agree more with this all. New sub here! Proud to be part of the 1% for once!

personally i prefer a lot of the remasters simply because the bass is louder. bass is so, so important to me in a mix and the originals just... don't have nearly enough for me. thrash is often guilty of pushing the bass too far down into the mix in favour of the guitar and i don't like the sound. i prefer the clankier, bass heavy mix of the remasters on the whole, it carries more energy to me. that hangar 18 remaster is a good example of this for me, the guitar is playing entirely chords, and the bass is holding the tonic down, keeping everything grounded. in the original, i don't really get enough definition out of the bass, it's just sort of a murmur down below and the wake up dead original is too washed in reverb to me. it removes too much of the definition from all the instruments to me, it sounds like it was recorded in a swimming pool or something

I grew up with Megadeth and only had their stuff on cassette. Didn’t buy on CD until the 2004 remasters and now I wish I bought them on CD earlier. As a bass player, I scream over that missing bass fill in “In My Darkest Hour.” Another group example of remixing is The Who. They remixed their albums in the 90’s. In the case of QUADROPHENIA, I have been a fan for about 25 years and in only the past year or so did I hear the original after finding it in a used CD store. It was quite a revelation.

I always felt something was wrong but never new what it was. Now that I see many did that.

listening to this is like trying to read tabs back in the late 80's and expecting to play the song

Great video, the remasters definitely made everything sound one dimensional.

I am no expert but I think this is because also of time. There is some stuff that belongs to a context in time and imo must be kept in it, and although the technology nowadays allow for recording way better, we must respect the magic of the time some songs were composed and recorded. For example, when I listen to stuff like Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin, etc, I want to listen it with the quality they had in their time. I want to listen to those "impurities" in sound, because they have some magic into it.

It's mainly the drums. Great topic, gained a new sub

OG Rust in Peace was my first. It's one of their best. I obviously noticed the vocals first on the Remaster. As for the rest, I spent years tracking down all the original albums, and I started thinking I was crazy. The other remasters weren't that bad or different... I'm glad someone else feels the same way and I'm not crazy

This was interesting to me because my versions are all copied from old CDs and converted to mp3s on my phone, so I checked which ones I had and they were all originals. When you played some of the remaster stuff, I was like EW GROSS.

I had the same experience growing up after Megadeth’s prime. born in 96, started listening in 2010 - so all that was readily available for me was the remixed/remastered versions which I do own the first 5, but I’ve since replaced them all with original pressing CD’s *including* the OG KIMB with the uncensored These Boots cover! I completely agree, and to your point, I find it super frustrating for any person to try and get into megadeth if they can only listen to these hot garbage remixes. kinda crazy that Mustaine approved of these, but we also gotta consider that Ellefson was suing him at the time 😂 yanno, THE FIRST time they were beefing. it’s such a damn shame that Peace Sells and So Far So Good So What’s mixes were tossed out for these lifeless new ones. those were my favorite sounding out of all the megadeth discography. and I firmly believe Mustaine re-recording / using alternate takes for Take No Prisoners and Five Magics is a war crime. thank you for making this video, your content is great and I hope to see more in the future!

because it highlights in clarity how inept his vocals were and how thin the guitar tone often was

Subscribed immediately when you said Youthansia was your favorite

Could you change the title to "Why are the Megadeth REMIXES so bad"? The correct term in this case is re-recorded and remixed, not remaster. Since they didn't re-record absolutely everything, I would say "remix" is still valid, I think they mostly re-recorded some guitars or something. A remaster is the exact same original mix and recording, just remastered. Too many people are using the word "remaster" wrong these days. There's four main stages in a production, generally in this order: 1. Writing 2. Recording 3. Mixing 4. Mastering If you only remaster, you cannot touch the first 3 stages. As fast as you touch the mix, it's no longer a remaster. Then it's at least a remix! And in this case I think they have even re-recorded things, so it's even less a remaster.

The main reason they sound different is because back in the day of analog mixing you had a giant board that mixed on . Those boards had a certain sound . Modern studios don’t use a mixing board anymore . It’s all done on computer , so you don’t get the sound of that board .

I totally related to when you said about only ever hearing the remasters because of your age. I first started listening to Megadeths classic albums on CD when I was 15 in 2007 and I was oblivious that they were the 2004 remasters. It was only until a couple of years ago I listened to the originals and man they’re like different songs altogether.

Joined the party 🤘

I was done with the remasters the instant I heard what was done to Ellefson's basslines. You can barely even hear his brief-but-awesome little solo in the middle of Take No Prisoners, and the flourishes he added (mordents, I think they're called) to the intro of In My Darkest Hour were cut out completely. One does not simply sideline basslines as awesome as Ellefson's!