Released: September 15, 2009

Songwriter: Dave Mustaine Shawn Drover

Producer: Andy Sneap Dave Mustaine

[Verse 1]
It's time to take your last walk in this world
Before your journey begins underground
Not before we torment you from your cell
Straight to hell with a short detour in-between
Begging for mercy all alone
Unable to handle the pressure
Before his mortification
Now let the torture begin!

[Chorus]
Death by the head crusher
Head crusher!
Death by the head crusher!

[Verse 2]
The horrific torture device
For those who fail interrogation
The most painful technique ever known
People thirst for the worst
The skulls disintegration
Beaten, broken, in bloody rags
Adding insult to injury, he recants
But it's much too late
Now let the torture begin!

[Chorus]
Death by the head crusher
Head crusher!
Death by the head crusher!

[Bridge]
On your knees, prisoner, take your position
Place your chin forward into the restraint
Your head slowly caves in from the compression
You fade in a blackout from the infernal pain

[Instrumental Break]

[Verse 3]
Twisting, turning the giant screw
Your teeth are breaking loose
Crushed and splintering into your mouth
Winding down, cutting through
Like broken glass being chewed
The fragmented skull and shattering bones
There's nothing you can do

[Instrumental Outro]

Megadeth

After being kicked out of Metallica, Dave Mustaine decided to form a Thrash Metal band that not only rivaled his former band, but played faster, more technical Metal. Along with bassist David ‘Junior’ Ellefson and a revolving door of guitarists and drummers, Mustaine set the world afire as Megadeth became known as the world’s state-of-the-art Speed Metal band throughout the 80s and the early 90s. One of the Big Four of Thrash Metal, Megadeth remains one of Metal’s most popular acts today.

However, Dave Mustaine’s fledgling band got off to a shaky start. Initially unable to find like-minded individuals, it was not until an altercation with his (underage) downstairs neighbours Dave Ellefson and Greg Handevidt, that led to him buying them beer and forming the first incarnation of the band with drummer Dijon Carruthers in 1983.

The band was named after a political pamphlet that referred to a “megadeath” (one million deaths by nuclear explosion):