Countdown to Extinction

The songs were written in two sessions, the first after the Clash of the Titans tour and the second in the autumn of 1991. Max Norman was chosen as producer because the band liked his mix of Rust in Peace. In pre-production, Nick Menza and Norman mapped out the tempos of the songs as a click track on a computer for Menza to play to. The sessions took place while the Rodney King riots were under way, and a curfew forced the band to leave the studio at six o'clock each night. Menza suggested the title, after a Time magazine story. All four members contributed to the writing.

The album entered the Billboard 200 at number two with first-week sales of 128,000. It was kept off the top by Billy Ray Cyrus's Some Gave All, and it eventually went double platinum. The title track earned an award from the Humane Society, and the album was nominated for the Grammy for Best Metal Performance. Rolling Stone ranked it number 33 among the 100 greatest metal albums in 2017. The band toured it from 1992 with Pantera and White Zombie among the supporting acts, and in 2012 played it in full for its 20th anniversary.