Architecture of Aggression

David Weigel | July 9, 2007

When Marxist rappers par excellence The Coup wanted to put an exploding World Trade Center on the cover of Party Music—before 9/11, mind—the studio killed it. Megadeth's new album cover depicts the United Nations being torn apart by holy fire and no one seems to care. No one except Shawn Macomber, who scores an interview with head Megadether Dave Mustaine and discovers that his verbal diarrhea is as acute as it ever was.

It's the lack of outrage that has Mustaine outraged. "Why doesn't Michael Moore do an expose on the UN?" he asked, adding, "When I see Syria on the Security Council [in 2002-2003], am I supposed to feel secure? It's mad....They just rely on UNICEF, this one good thing they're doing, to cover up all the stuff that they're not doing, to put them beyond dissent. I'm not impressed. How long are they going to sit by and watch Hezbollah fire Katyusha rockets into Israel from Lebanon? That's a question I'd like answered."

Speaking of Israel, on another track, "Amerikhastan," Mustaine envisions a dystopian future wherein a "legion of bankrupt souls with a lust for revenge" brings civilization to its knees. "You must ignore the focus groups," he advises in his melodic howl. "You must send in the Mossad/Turn off the BBC and CNN/And don't look back."

Whole thing here. Michael C. Moynihan on Swedish metal here.