The first question that should be on the lips of any Megadeth fan is: "Do I need this set?" The answer will invariably come back: "No, probably not."
There really isn't anything here that hasn't been done before. The two-disk, thirty-five track compilation only contains two previously unreleased tracks, and one of those was released in countries other than the US. All this means is that if you are a Megadeth fan and have all the albums, you already have everything here, and you likely have tracked down the one unreleased in the US track. Still, despite the repetition of tunes, there is a lot to like, especially if you are a non-fan and curious. If you are a fan, feel free to skip the rest of this as you don't really need this set.
Over the past near decade there have been a few Megadeth collections. Something that is common for an act that has been around for nearly a quarter century (although, I have to wonder when Metallica sets will start appearing). The first one was back in 2000, a release that I believe was used to finish off Megadeth's deal with Capitol Records, as the next album of new material appeared on Sanctuary Records. That album was called Capitol Punishment: The Megadeth Years, it was a single disk release that featured two new tracks and a hidden track of Megadeth snips that sounded like someone tuning around a radio dial (never could figure out the purpose of it).
Next up was a 2005 release called Greatest Hits: Back to the Start, also from Capitol Records. The track list here was compiled by online voting through the official Megadeth site, culled from the Capitol recordings. There was some crossover between this release and the first collection. Still, neither is a definitive collection of the mighty Megadeth.
The third set upped the ante considerably. It was more than a mere greatest hits collection, it was a career spanning behemoth of a set called, appropriately enough, Warchest. This is likely the most comprehensive collection of the Capitol recordings that you are likely to find without buying all of the albums and tracking down rarities. It is four CDs worth of music, the first three containing all of their best tracks along with a few demos and live cuts, the fourth disk is a complete concert recorded in 1990. There is also a fifth disk, a DVD containing a full concert from 1992. Everything was remastered and personally chosen by Mustaine.
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