The Four Horsemen (Live at Kabuki Theatre, San Francisco, CA – March 15th, 1985)

Dave Mustaine, the original lead guitarist in Metallica, brought this song to the band and worked on it with James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. At the time, they called it "The Mechanix," and included it on their 1982 demo cassette No Life 'Til Leather. After Mustaine was fired from the band in 1983, Metallica released Kill 'Em All with a re-worked version of this song renamed "The Four Horsemen." Mustaine's new group, Megadeth, released it as "Mechanix" as the last track on their first album, Killing Is My Business.... Mustaine's version has completely different lyrics, but the music is very similar. Since the Metallica song had been out for a while, Mustaine would often introduce "Mechanix" in concert by explaining that it was a track he wrote with Metallica.

"The Four Horsemen" is a biblical reference. In The New Testament, "The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse" go in different directions to spread the word of the end of the world. The concept of The Four Horsemen is not limited to The Bible. In 1924, a sportswriter referred to The Notre Dame football team's backfield as "The Four Horsemen," and the school had the players pose on horses with their uniforms on to publicize the team, which was coached by the legendary Knute Rockne. The photo became famous when it was picked up by wire services and the nickname stuck. For Metallica, The Four Horsemen could refer to the four members of the band.

In the Bible, the Four Horsemen are war, conquest, famine (or pestilence) and death. In the song, they are time, famine, pestilence and death - pretty close.