Listen to the Riffs and Guitar Solos from Megadeth's 'Rust in Peace' Played Without Distortion

Megadeth’s landmark fourth album, Rust in Peace, was released 28 years ago today. The record, which was the first Megadeth effort to feature the Dave Mustaine/Marty Friedman guitar team, is regarded as one of the most instrumentally complex and technically proficient metal releases in history.

But as difficult as Mustaine’s knotty riffs and Friedman’s exotic solos sound with gobs of gain, take a listen to YouTuber Rudy Ayoub do them all sans distortion. It’s an impressive and educational—not to mention, with Ayoub’s facial expressions, sometimes humorous—display.

Check out Ayoub playing Mustaine’s riffs above (and also here) and Friedman’s solos below. For more guitar insanity from Ayoub, head over to his official YouTube channel.

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Richard Bienstock

Rich is the co-author of the best-selling Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion. He is also a recording and performing musician, and a former editor of Guitar World magazine and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He has authored several additional books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the companion to the documentary of the same name.