MEGADETH’s Countdown To Extinction 20th Anniversary box set was released on November 6th by Capitol/EMI. Photos of the unboxing of the release can be seen at this location.

Dave Mustaine has personally overseen the new 20th Anniversary Edition of the band’s most popular album.

Presented in a 2CD lift-top box and digitally, Countdown To Extinction’s new commemorative edition pairs the remastered original album with a 1992 concert, recorded live at San Francisco’s Cow Palace, which has never before been released in its entirety. The concert audio has been newly remixed for this release. The physical and digital versions both include a booklet with a new liner notes essay by music journalist Kory Grow, and the 2CD box also contains a 24” x 36” poster and four collectible postcards.

Countdown To Extinction, Megadeth’s fifth studio album, was recorded in Los Angeles in 1992 as rioting raged across the city in response to the Rodney King trial verdicts. American tensions weren’t limited to LA, by any means, as the Gulf War was still fresh in people’s minds, the state of the environment was becoming headline news, and President George H.W. Bush was seeking reelection in a heated campaign season. Out of this turmoil, Megadeth was inspired to create Countdown To Extinction, considered by many to be the band’s best and most accessible album. The group’s previous albums, including So Far, So Good…So What! and Rust in Peace, included songs that tackled topics like censorship and religious bloodletting in the Middle East. But none were as polemical as the sonic missiles launched by ‘Countdown’. Megadeth laced the songs with acid-tongued commentary about subjects ranging from the futility of war ('Architecture Of Aggression') to the senseless brutality of caged hunting ('Countdown To Extinction'). 'Foreclosure Of A Dream' sampled George Bush’s infamous “Read my lips” speech, making a statement about taxation endangering the American Dream.

Thanks to a perfect balance of hard-rock song structures, epic choruses, and fleet-fingered guitar work, Countdown To Extinction became an instant classic, benefiting from copious MTV and radio play. Before long, songs like 'Symphony of Destruction', 'Sweating Bullets', and 'Skin O’ My Teeth' had entered metal’s canon of essential recordings. The album shot to #2 on the Billboard chart (it may have hit #1, if not for BILLY RAY CYRUS’ long chart-topping reign with Some Gave All), and it was certified double Platinum in the US within two years, with sales of more than two million copies.

Megadeth was in top form, with Mustaine, the band’s then 31-year-old singer and guitarist leading the album’s assault with lyrics like “You know your worth when your enemies praise your architecture of aggression,” not to mention his venomous rhythm guitar attack. His band mates completed the picture, as lead guitarist Marty Friedman blazed with memorable solos, bassist David Ellefson jammed dizzying arrays of low-end thunder, and drummer Nick Menza attacked his kit. Megadeth sounded hungry, and the band was rewarded when the album earned a Grammy Award nomination (Best Metal Performance) and when its title cut garnered a Genesis Award from the Humane Society for raising awareness for animal rights issues.

Countdown To Extinction (20th Anniversary Edition) tracklisting:

CD 1:

'Skin O’ My Teeth'

'Symphony Of Destruction'

'Architecture Of Aggression'

'Foreclosure Of A Dream'

'Sweating Bullets'

'This Was My Life'

'Countdown To Extinction'

'High Speed Dirt'

'Psychotron'

'Captive Honour'

'Ashes In Your Mouth'

CD 2 - Live At Cow Palace, 1992:

'Intro'

'Holy Wars... The Punishment Due'

'Skin O’ My Teeth'

'Wake Up Dead'

'Hangar 18'

'Countdown To Extinction'

'Foreclosure Of A Dream'

'This Was My Life'

'Lucretia'

'Sweating Bullets'

'In My Darkest Hour'

'The Conjuring'

'Tornado'

'Ashes In Your Mouth'

'Symphony Of Destruction'

'Peace Sells'

'Anarchy In The UK'