AMG Review of Anthology: Set the World Afire

James Christopher Monger
All Music Guide

Megadeth fans who felt short-changed by 2005's 17-track Greatest Hits: Back to the Start and crushed beneath the formidable weight of 2007's five-disc Warchest box will revel in the perfectly balanced brutality of Anthology: Set the World Afire, a two-disc (33 tracks) chronological rendering of the heavy metal pioneers' entire catalog. Along with the usual suspects like "Trust," "Peace Sells," "A Tout le Monde," "Hangar 18," "Wake Up Dead," and "Symphony of Destruction," Set the World a Fire includes two previously unreleased live recordings, as well as two demos, one an ultra-rare recording of "High Speed Dirt," a track cut immediately after Dave Mustaine left Metallica. From the raw, Southern California thrash of 1985's Killing Is My Business...And Business Is Good! to the tech-heavy, progressive metal of 2007's United Abominations, this Anthology presents a deafeningly clear and succinct argument as to why Megadeth has managed to stick around for so long, while others acts laid down their guns in their wake.