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Holy Wars... The Punishment DueMegadeth

Released: September 23, 1990

Songwriter: Dave Mustaine

Producer: Dave Mustaine Mike Clink

Part 1: Holy Wars

[Instrumental Intro]

[Verse 1]
Brother will kill brother, spilling blood across the land
Killing for religion, something I don't understand
Fools like me who cross the sea and come to foreign lands
Ask the sheep for their beliefs, "do you kill on God's command?"
A country that's divided surely will not stand
My past erased, no more disgrace, no foolish naive stand
The end is near, it's crystal clear, part of the master plan
Don't look now to Israel, it might be your homeland
Holy wars...

[Verse 2]
Upon my podium as the “know-it-all scholar”
Down in my seat of judgement, gavel's bang, uphold the law
Up on my soapbox, a leader out to change the world
Down in my pulpit as the holier-than-thou-could-be-messenger of God

Part 2: The Punishment Due

[Verse 3]
Wage the war on organized crime
Sneak attacks, rappel down the rocks, behind the lines
Some people risk to employ me
Some people live to destroy me
Either way they die... they die!

[Verse 4]
They killed my wife and my baby
With hopes to enslave me
First mistake... last mistake!
Paid by the alliance
To slay all the giants
Next mistake... no more mistakes!

[Guitar Solo & Instrumental Shift]

[Verse 5]
Fill the cracks in with judicial granite
Because I don't say it don't mean I ain't thinking it
Next thing you know, they'll take my thoughts away
I know what I said, now I must scream of the overdose
And the lack of mercy killings
Mercy killings
Mercy killings, killings, killings, killings
Next thing you know, they'll take my thoughts away

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):

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