Megadeth ~ Tornado Of Souls

for YM2612 + SN76489

by MetallicOrwell

When my cover of Battery by Metallica exploded in popularity a few months ago, I entertained the idea of covering more songs by famous metal bands I enjoy. Before uploading it I had set an ultimatum for myself, though: once I was done with that particular cover, I'd make original songs, and that's what I did for a while. I did start working a little bit on Tornado Of Souls by Megadeth, but I was deep into the process of discovering my own compositional abilities, so I wasn't really in the mood for more of what I'd done before, and I left it unfinished. I also knew that making more of what people wanted to hear even though I wasn't really feeling it isn't part of metal's ethos, anyway. You might even say it would've been akin to "selling out", perhaps. Regardless, I am feeling it now, so here's my completed cover of Tornado Of Souls, my favorite Megadeth song ever.

Rust In Peace is a remarkable record for many reasons. I consider it one of the best metal albums ever, which should surprise absolutely no one. It reminds me a lot of Eternal Nightmare by Vio-Lence (another one of my favorites) in the way that it mostly does away with pop structures, so the songs just go all over the place with different sections, twists and turns and a million riffs. It's a perfect example of how to pack as much variety as possible into pieces of music that are not that long, in many cases. I hate to make this comparison as it's somewhat tasteless, but if you've listened to some Metallica songs, like Disposable Heroes or The Frayed Ends Of Sanity, it might have crossed your mind that they didn't need to be eight minutes long. It's because they repeat the same verses and choruses so often, instead of adding new, interesting things to change it up. The problem is not sheer length, it's repetition. Five Magics is my pick from Rust In Peace for the song that does the opposite most flawlessly, although the others aren't slouches either.

What differentiates Rust In Peace from Eternal Nightmare is that the rhythm section is often on a completely different level of complexity--listen to Take No Prisoners to see what I mean. In fact, while making this cover I went down a rabbit hole and actually read the 2020 book "Rust in Peace: The Inside Story of the Megadeth Masterpiece". As it turns out, they had to record the drum parts in an interesting way: instead of doing a clean take of the whole thing from beginning to end, Nick Menza would do different sections, they'd pick the best takes, and then the producer would splice and later reassemble the magnetic tape to get the complete drum track. That's how complex some of the arrangements are, but truly great thrash metal is about fucking your skull with as many riffs as possible, and if you need to change it up constantly to accommodate said riffs then you do it, accessibility be damned.

Tornado Of Souls is the most normal (?) song on the record. At first it almost seems like a predictable speed metal piece, but of course, after the second minute it just goes all over the place. The riffs are often spiral-like, which fits the title of the song. There are no real tempo changes on this one, just a lot of different sections that somehow flow from one to the next wonderfully. Even after the lengthy guitar solo, they still add more things instead of doing the original chorus again. Composing these songs must have been exhausting, honestly, and playing them live has to be maddening when compared to something like Symphony Of Destruction.

But that might be why Rust In Peace stands the test of time and is widely considered to be Megadeth's best work. Sometimes, when an artist (or band) follows their heart and attempts to create something truly ambitious instead of making music that will appeal to as many people as possible, fate smiles upon them and all is right with the world.

I think I'm done being pretentious, so let's get to the technical rundown!

The approach and sound design here are rather similar to Battery. My metal formula for the Mega Drive is used with the same variation: on the YM2612, a Chunky Bass on channel FM 1, panned rhythm guitars on FM 2 and FM 3, and then a third rhythm guitar in the center, on FM 4, which uses one of the synth-y instruments from the intro track to Thunder Force IV. Getting the part at the very beginning to sound right was difficult, and I had to make sure my lead guitar didn't sound too shrill or echo-y. In the parts where there are no vocals I can get away with four rhythm guitars, so I have detuned echoes on FM 5 to achieve a massive, thick sound. Molkirill's rhythm guitar makes a cameo appearance in one section, by the way.

When it comes to the vocals, I experimented with various approaches, but eventually did something very similar to what I'd done on Battery: there's a synth lead on FM 5 (sometimes the same as the TF4 intro synth, sometimes the Synth Lead 7 instrument included with DefleMask), and the square waves of the SN76489 to back it up and add detuned echoes. Because Dave's singing is very one-note, I originally took a lot of liberties and made the melodies more complex. After receiving some feedback from a friend, though, I decided to make them much closer to the original song, and also made sure they synced up with the lyrics (which was a lot of work), so you can probably sing along if you know the words. Instead of doing harmonies to mimic the backing vocals, I used things like pitch slides and vibrato to emphasize those parts, because it just sounded better.

Now, obviously, the most important part of Tornado Of Souls is the masterful guitar solo by Marty Friedman, and I knew I had to get it right. When I did Battery I didn't really put that much effort into making sure Kirk's solo was perfect, but this time there was no way I'd be satisfied half-assing it. I looked at several guitar tabs (there are some good ones out there, as you'd expect), and those were a good foundation, but I went the extra mile. The master tracks for Rust In Peace have been floating around the internet for over a decade now--I have no idea how they got leaked or where they came from, but they are genuine: they're not separated using AI or anything like that, because that didn't exist back when they first appeared online. So I loaded the lead guitar track on Audacity and used the plot spectrum to examine the frequencies and make sure the notes were correct. I'd say I got it about 95% perfect, but replicating every pitch bend exactly requires a level of insanity I'm not quite capable of. Also, the nature of sequenced music is such that the little imperfections that happen when a real human being is playing the music are lost no matter what. I still got really close, though. I also had to make several variants of my lead guitar instrument to prevent shrillness on the higher notes.

As for the drums, the samples were going to be mainly from the Yamaha MU-2000 EX, but only the toms survived (four of them). I considered for a while using an EQ'd version of the power snare to make this cover a little more distinct from my take on Battery, but in the end, the Anachro Soundfont and its power kit won me over once again. Its snare in particular just goes so perfectly with the rest of my instruments that it's irreplaceable at this point. Incidentally, I was a little surprised by Nick Menza's style, particularly in this song, because he doesn't really do fills much, if at all. I like to include as many as possible, and in the past I've gone way overboard with those, like in Metal Squad, but here I stayed pretty close to what Nick originally did. There's one short part right in the middle of the song where it's only drums, so I actually used both channel FM 6 for the samples and FM 5 for an FM kick drum. It works surprisingly well.

Because of the drums and guitar tone, and especially the bass, I think this version is heavier than the original in a way, but still retains the mood and spirit. I always thought Tornado Of Souls was about Dave Mustaine's experiences being in Megadeth, with lines like "not for the money or fame", "who's to say what's for me to be" or "the golden chance for me" indicating his struggles, his ups and downs, but apparently it's about an ex-girlfriend. Go figure. Sometimes it's better to let the music do the talking so the listener will derive his or her own meaning from it, I suppose. At the same time, some artists just can't shut up, and I don't know if I'm pointing fingers at Dave Mustaine or at myself. It works either way.

One last fun fact: apparently Megadeth were referred to as "intellectual thrash metal" as early as the 80s. The phrase appears on an article about the band included on the original 1990 Japanese release of Rust In Peace, and also on their outdated Capitol Records page. I like Megadeth as much as the next guy, but come on. Yes, the music is complex, but read the lyrics to something like "Liar": not exactly worthy of a philosophy PHD. And don't get me started on The Conjuring: Dave Mustaine once used black magic to get laid. I am not even kidding: he went full Bible Black on some girl's ass and it fucking worked. Hmm... maybe he truly is a genius.

All that's left for me to say is: AGUANTE MEGADETH.

See you around.

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