Holy Wars... The Punishment Due

The song has two sections. It opens with a fast thrash passage, then at 2:26, after an acoustic bridge from Friedman, shifts to a slower, heavier part called The Punishment Due. Friedman plays two solos there before the music speeds up again for a final solo by Mustaine. Mustaine said he was hitting his guitar hard to make the riff, which is why it is so fast, and that the chorus drew on the chord patterns of the Beatles. In 2017 he posted the correct transcription of the main riff, saying most tabs online were wrong.

The lyrics deal with global religious conflict, particularly in Israel and Northern Ireland. Mustaine has described a show there where his introduction to a cover of Anarchy in the U.K. caused trouble in the crowd and the band left in a bulletproof bus. The second part is about Frank Castle, the Marvel character the Punisher. The video, filmed in August 1990, combines news footage of armed conflicts with the band and Mustaine skydiving.

Standing

Loudwire ranked it first on its list of the 10 best Megadeth songs, and Decibel placed it first on Rust in Peace, writing that there has never been a better way to start a thrash album apart from Angel of Death. It is a live staple and was released as a single.