COUNTDOWN TO EXTINCTION - REMIXED & REMASTERED
Countdown To Extinction is arguably Mustaine and MEGADETH's finest work. The attention to detail that Dave Mustaine and producer Max Norman paid could give you a migraine if you have any knowledge of studio work. Not that it didn't pay off;
Countdown To Extinction was all over the radio and MTV, and if not for "Achy Breaky Heart" by BILLY RAY CYRUS, it would have hit #1 on the Billboard charts. Like Dave Mustaine says in the liner notes; "and you wonder why the rest of the world thinks we Americans are stupid"... Damn straight, man.
As far as the 'remixed and remastered' aspect goes, with
Countdown To Extinction, the differences from the original are subtle. Dave's vocals and harmonies poke through more on the songs, and the bottom end is beefier. You're not going to get much more exact with the mix though; I seem to remember Dave talking about going into ProTools and lining up each bass note and every kick drum hit digitally when originally recording the songs. Once you've hit that level of compulsion, it's hard to improve on it. However, when you get to "Sweating Bullets", you'll notice a significant improvement with the vocals. "High Speed Dirt" is noticably different as well.
The demo version of "Symphony Of Destruction" makes you thankful for objective opinions. The final version is SO much better than the demo.
