Sudden Death

This Dave Mustaine penned song was written by the Megadeth frontman for inclusion in the 2010 music video game Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, which was released on September 28, 2010 in North America. The song itself was released as a single on iTunes four days previously. Speaking to Rolling Stone, Mustaine said, "I thought it was a great idea for us. We've had experience with games in the past, and our songs have been in sports games and Grand Theft Auto, but we never really got into the Guitar Hero thing. When they talked to us about doing this, I never imagined it would be something this honorable." Only once in my career have I had this happen before," Mustaine added, referring to 1991's soundtrack for Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, to which Megadeth contributed "Go to Hell." "We had written something and Interscope told me to make the lyrics even darker. Activision heard the track, and said, 'We want more solos on it.' And I said, OK, I can do that.'"

Although the song was not recorded as an album track, it was included as the opening number on the band's 2011 album, TH1RT3EN.

This was the first song Megadeth recorded with original bassist Dave Ellefson after he was replaced by James LoMenzo in early 2010. He told MusicRadar.com: "This is a track that was being worked on when I rejoined the band. I came in on a Friday, I played my part on a Saturday, and on Monday we put out the press release that I was back in Megadeth. So this song represents a real homecoming for me."