"Gears of War" is a song by the American

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

band

Megadeth Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal along wit ...

. It was released as a promotional single from their tenth studio album ''

United Abominations ''United Abominations'' is the eleventh studio album by American thrash metal band Megadeth. Released on May 15, 2007, ''United Abominations'' is the first Megadeth release distributed through Roadrunner Records and, with the exception of the ban ...

'' (2007). It was the first song from the album released. An instrumental of the song is featured in the 2006 video game of the same name.

Background

"Gears of War" is featured on the soundtrack to the video game ''

Gears of War ''Gears of War'' is a media franchise centered on a series of video games created by Epic Games, developed and managed by The Coalition, and owned and published by Xbox Game Studios. The franchise is best known for its third-person shooter vide ...

''. Initially, the song had no lyrics; however,

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

approached Megadeth, asking to use the song in ''Gears of War''. The band accepted the offer and wrote lyrics for the song, but it was too late to use the lyrics in the version for the game, as the game was near completion. The lyrics were written about the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...

. A demo of the song was released on the band's website on November 22, 2006.

Live performance

The band debuted the song on October 17, 2006 in

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...

, Japan. Megadeth performed the track live as headliners of

Gigantour Gigantour was a sporadically organised traveling heavy metal music festival organized by Dave Mustaine of Megadeth. The tour was founded in 2005 with dates across North America (see also Gigantour 2005), and the 2006 and 2007 line-ups also trav ...

, a twenty-five stop metal tour sponsored by

as part of the promotion for the game. Microsoft held a contest which, if won, you would get to try the game early, and would have the opportunity to see a private concert, which the song's American live debut was.

Personnel

Production and performance credits are adapted from ''

'' liner notes. ;Megadeth *

Dave Mustaine David Scott Mustaine (born September 13, 1961) is an American musician. He is the co-founder, lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter of the thrash metal band Megadeth, as well as their sole consistent member. Mustaine has releas ...

– guitars, lead vocals *

Glen Drover Glen Drover (born May 25, 1969) is a Canadian heavy metal guitarist from Ottawa, Ontario. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of Megadeth and King Diamond, along with his brother Shawn Drover who also performed with Megadeth. Histor ...

– guitars, backing vocals *

James LoMenzo James LoMenzo (born January 13, 1959) is an American heavy metal bass guitarist. He was a member of the band White Lion, performing with them from 1984 to 1991. He was later the bassist for Black Label Society, Slash's Snakepit, and Megadeth. ...

– bass, backing vocals *

Shawn Drover Shawn Drover (born May 5, 1966) is a Canadian drummer, best known for his work with the American heavy metal band Megadeth. He began playing the drums at the age of 13. In 1993 he founded the power metal band Eidolon with his brother Glen. H ...

– drums, backing vocals ;Additional musicians * Chris Rodriguez – backing vocals *

Axel Mackenrott Axel Mackenrott (6 September 1969 in Hamburg, Germany) is the keyboard player for the heavy metal band Masterplan. Axel began playing at around 11 years of age with piano lessons, and went on to eventually acquire a Bachelor of Arts in musica ...

– keyboards ;Production *Dave Mustaine – production *Jeff Balding – production, recording *

Andy Sneap Andy Sneap (born 18 July 1969) is an English guitarist, record producer and composer with over 100 albums to his name, most of which have been produced at his Backstage Recording studios in rural Derbyshire. Some of the most critically acclaime ...

– production, mixing, mastering, recording

References

{{Gears of War series Gears of War 2006 songs 2006 singles 2007 songs Megadeth songs Songs written by Dave Mustaine Music based on video games Roadrunner Records singles