After Dave Mustaine was kicked out of Metallica for alcoholism, he decided to get back at Metallica the only way he could: by creating a competition. He succeeded, and his band Megadeth became a legend in its own right. After releasing a string of strong, but somewhat limited, works, in 1990 Megadeth crafted one of the greatest thrash albums of all time, "Rust In Peace." The follow-ups, "Countdown To Extinction" (1992) and "Youthanasia" (1994), became the band's biggest sellers, by virtue of being more radio friendly and also due to the fact that for the first time the band's line-up stayed the same: Dave Mustaine (vocals, guitars, songs), Dave Ellefson (bass, songs), Marty Friedman (guitars), and Nick Menza (drums). It must also be noted that the success came at a price: all of Mustaine's career has been marred by a variety of drug addictions, that once even claimed his life, but thanks to doctors, he returned from the dead. Then the band began changing direction. "Risk" (1999) caused a widespread disdaine, unleashing jokes like "Megapop" and "Megadeth sells but who's buying." Soon after Marty Friedman left the band as well and was replaced by Al Pitrelli of Savatage. Dave Mustaine then announced that "Risk" was a mistake, and that the band was going back to heavier forms of music. After "World Needs A Hero" (2001) came out to much hype but mixed reviews, and sales plummetted. Mustaine then announced that metal world "turned its back on him" and dissolved Megadeth. Three years later, however, he reformed it and released "The System Has Failed" (2004), that was noteably better received. Currently, the band consists of the Drover brothers, Glen (guitars, formerly of Eidolon and King Diamond) and Shawn (drums, of Eidolon), James LoMenzo (bass), and Dave himself. LATEST NEWS: "United Abominations" (2007), the latest release, is now out.
PEACE SELLS... BUT WHO'S BUYING? (1986)
RATING: ***1/2
BEST SONGS: title cut, "Devil's Island," "My Last Words"
A solid thrash metal album. "Wake Up Dead" is funny, and so is "I Ain't Superstitious." "Devil's Island" (lyrics resemble Maiden's "Hallowed Be Thy Name," but it seems like every band had to write a song about someone's being sentenced to death, so no big deal) and "My Last Words" (lyrics resemble Priest's "Cheater") both rock. Some others I couldn't get into, like "Black Friday" and "The Conjuring." My favorite song, naturally, is a great, great, great title track, which, I'm sure you all have heard a million times already. It's got awesome groove and strong lyrics ("Whadda ya mean I can't get to work on time? Got nothing better to do!" and "Whadda ya mean, I ain't kind? Just not yer kind!" to me are the epitome of good angry metal lyrics), and a kick-butt video too. I only wish they've included Vic in there. This song is the only track from this album Megadeth still plays regularily on every concert.
RUST IN PEACE (1990)
RATING: *****
BEST SONGS: "Poison Was The Cure," "Lucretia," "Tornado Of Souls"
Although many people would name "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due" and "Hangar 18" the best songs of this album, I'm going to stick to my picks. Epic "Holy Wars" has an awesome main riff, but frequent slowdowns kill the groove for me. The lyrics and violent war images are kinda worn out too. "Hangar 18" is good, but doesn't measure up to the true gems of this enormously important thrash album: "Take No Prisoners" (raging thrash, yeah, baby!), "Five Magics" (stupid lyrics but spectacular groove!), and the entire second side of the cassette. It starts with thundering Ellefson's bass (and I consider him to be among the best bass players on the planet), and then turns into a lightning fast rocker, which will leave your head spinning. "Lucretia" is the best song on the album, filled with not just lyrics and music, but with some sheer ecstasy, and it's a great sing-along too (lyrically, it reminds me of "Lost Reflection" by Crimson Glory but only lyrically). Epic "Tornado Of Souls" is right up there too; I only wish the second riff (the one right before the first and second verses) was repeated. Short "Dawn Patrol" was meant to be a space-filler, but it turned out to be a great bass-only song, and the conclusion, "Rust In Peace... Polaris," can send anyone into trance with its power. A great album, if you don't own it, you are missing some of the best rock ever.
COUNTDOWN TO EXTINCTION (1992)
RATING: *****
BEST SONGS: "Skin O' My Teeth," "Architecture Of Aggression," title track
Everybody seems to get disappointed with this album as time passes, but everybody loves it the first minute they listen to it. Many people questioned the departure of Megadeth from what seemed to be a perfect style of Rust In Peace, but the departure lies mainly with production and sound rather than with music and lyrics. I like the sound a lot, but I admit, production could have been better. Pure aggression tracks like "Skin O' My Teeth," "Architecture Of Aggression," "This Was My Life" and "High Speed Dirt" are all great, and adrenaline flows free. A well-known mid-tempo "Symphony Of Destruction" (perhaps the most primitive yet cool thrash riff ever), as well as "Sweating Bullets" (describes Mustaine's personality well), "Psychotron" (funny special effects), and "Ashes In Your Mouth" are also terrific. Dave was also experimenting with less rough sounds, and they came out quite good in the songs like "Foreclosure Of A Dream" (great politically-oriented lyrics) and "Captive Honour" (I love the intro to that). Lot of people don't like title track, but I think it's great. Although it's a little out of place on CTE, it would fit right in on Youthanasia: same melodic sound. Mustaine demonstrates some environmental concerns, and the song could make a good music theme for "Captain Planet" cartoon series (and the voice in the slowbit seems to belong to one of the Planeteers). A great album, although I don't listen to it as much as I used to anymore.
YOUTHANASIA (1994)
RATING: ****1/2
BEST SONGS: "Train Of Consequences," "Tour Le Monde," "Killing Road"
First eight songs are all great. Next three suck. Last one, "Victory" is written tongue-in-cheek and presents Megadeth's history as a sequence of the song titles. Anything to hear that Lucretia's laugh over again, hehe :). This album has excellent production and well-written songs, with lots of melody. What it doesn't have, is speed and "thrashiness," and I, as well as other Megadeth lovers, miss them. Lyrically, Mustaine explores his favorite theme - bad relationships with women - again. That seems to be his favorite topic, in songs like "Wake Up Dead," "Devil's Island," "In My Darkest Hour," "This Was My Life" from previous albums, and "Angry Again," "Trust," and "Almost Honest" from albums to come. This album has "Reckoning Day" and "Addicted To Chaos," both - excellent songs. "Addicted To Chaos" has this very dark groove, and it's also very catchy. "Train Of Consequences" (with a neat video) is fast, and the main riff certainly sounds like a flying train. "Tour Le Monde" (Megadeth's version of "Fade To Black," rejected by the laMeTV for "suicide-related content") is a great dark melodic song. My cousin loves "Elysian Fields," but I'm sort of indifferent to it. "Killing Road" I absolutely adore. It's a very simple song, with average lyrics about the life on the road, but the main riff is probably among my top five favorite riffs of all time. "Blood Of Heroes," to which the lyrics I still can't quite figure out, also has a rocking (although slower) riff. "The Family Tree," dealing with child abuse, has great guitar licks in the bridge, and overall is quite cool. Everything else is boring, especially the title track. An important album for Megadeth and the entire 90s metal.
HIDDEN TREASURES (1995)
RATING: ****
BEST SONGS: "Angry Again," "99 Ways To Die," "Paranoid"
Between Countdown and Youthanasia, Megadeth has participated in several very good projects, including "Nativity In Black: Tribute To Black Sabbath," "Beavis And Butthead Experience," and numerous soundtracks. Then they released this collection of their songs from these projects, and it's quite good. "Angry Again" from the "Last Action Hero" soundtrack (see comments) and "99 Ways To Die" from Beavis And Butthead Experience are among the greatest rockers of the early 90s. Cover of "No More Mr. Nice Guy" by Alice Cooper, done for the "Shocker" soundtrack, is terrific, I actually prefer it to the original. "Diadems," done for the Demon's Night soundtrack is dark and moody. "Go To Hell," from Bill And Ted's Bogus Journey soundtrack, which everybody loves so much, I find to be rather poor. By far the worst track is a cover of "Problem," by Sex Pistols (I hate Sex Piss-stools and everything they've ever done). Why do metal bands love doing punk covers so much (Garage Days Re-Revisited by Metallica, Undisputed Attitude by Slayer, and Spaghetti Incident? by Guns N' Roses)? I could never figure it out. Anyhow, a nice thing to have.
CRYPTIC WRITINGS (1997)
RATING: ***1/2
BEST SONGS: "Trust," "The Disintegrators," "Vortex"
The final album to feature the Megadeth's most stable lineup. I sort of got more into this album with time, although it took me nearly two years. Along with most boring crap ever released by Megadeth ("Sin," "Have Cool Will Travel") this album contains some of the best thrash I've heard in the 90s. "The Disintegrators" id prime time thrash! The best (though shortest) track on the album. "Vortex" and "FFF" (which reminds me a lot of "Motorbreath" by Metallica) are also something you would never expect from the Mustaine & Co. of the late 90s. Needless to say, both kick ass. "Trust," "Almost Honest," and "Secret Place," on the contrary are something you certainly would expect from them: more polished sound and softer tones. "Trust" is good, "Almost Honest" is lousy (although the chorus is quite catchy), and to enjoy "Secret Place" I have to be in a very special state of mind. Other tracks are OK "Use The Man" (a good intro from some 60s song a name of which i can't quite remember, and the song itself starts out boring, but warms up towards the end) and "Mastermind" (not as boring as I once thought it was, but still, could be a lot better) and "Lucretia"-recalling "She-Wolf." That last one starts average, but then shifts gear and turns into a great melodic rocker. Overall - strange. Very strange. I wonder what the next album will be like. With Mustaine, you can never guess what will he come up with. Metallica, I think is more predictable.
RISK (1999)
RATING: **1/2
BEST SONGS: "Insomnia," "Crush 'Em," "Wanderlust"
Even though not a complete waste, as many people labeled it, this is still a worst 'Deth album I've heard. The sound changed, became more "alternative" (argh!), "hard rock," or "industrial," whatever the hell you want to label it; but whatever way you slice it: the energy is not there. No shredding, barely any Dave's trademark rasping, and, most importantly, no speed (is this the same band that made Killing Is My Business and RIP? Nah, can't be). The album just sort of drags on and on. The CD begins with a nice cello in "Insomnia," which, simple as it is, is still pretty neat. "Prince Of Darkness" is pretty sinister in mood, but the music could have been more elevating. "Into The Arena"/"Crush 'Em" also has its moments, but more in the "creating-the-atmosphere" than in actual music or lyrics. Then comes a lot of uninspiring stuff, like "Doctor's Calling," "Breadline" (I hate this one!), "Seven," and both "Times." I really don't understand why the band just stopped "clicking." For some reason, the whole thing sounds like noise to my ear. At least on Cryptic Writings some songs rocked in the old fashion. On this one, nothing can be really labeled as "rocking." And whatta hell is up with abandoning Vic?
WORLD NEEDS A HERO (2001)
RATING: ***
BEST SONGS: "Disconnect," "Moto Psycho," "Dread And Fugitive Mind"
People who think that metal has died in 1991 hailed this release as the second coming of Megadeth, due to the largely publicized "return to the roots" sound. People who closely followed 90s underground metal scene claimed that this album is the biggest pile of derivative shit known to men. I have to say that the second opinion is closer to mine, although it's not exactly the biggest pile of shit. Soundwise, I can see why people like it so much: Megadeth hasn't sounded this well since... as long as i can remember. It's pretty simplistic alright, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. I actually find some of the stuff pretty catchy, like "Disconnect," "Moto Psycho" ("motosyko...ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta... motosyko..." :)), "Dread," and pieces of other tunes. Pitrelli fits Megadeth style very well. This album has A LOT OF BASS! Some songs definitely reek, like "Burning Bridges," "Promises," and "Losing My Senses" (made its way here straight from Risk). One problem is that EVERY SONG CAN BE TRACED TO ANOTHER MEGADETH SONG from the past. "Dread" is very similar to "Sweating Bullets" (you can sing "Hello me, meet the real me" to it with ease), "When" is a blatant ripoff of "Am I Evil" (Dave jammed on this song with Metallica back in the day), and "Hangar" is, well, a much weaker version of "Hangar." A bigger problem is the lack of speed. Not a lot of thrashing here, and just when the song starts fast, it soon slows down to the mid-pace. "Recipe For Hate / Warhorse" would be a good tune, but it takes too long for it to get going. But still, quite catchy in places. There are some relatively fresh places, like the title track phone sounds and "1000 Times Goodbye," but overall, it's just way too secondary. Did you know the body Vic is crawling out of is, in fact, Dave's? Flip the cd cover upside down.
THE SYSTEM HAS FAILED (2004)
RATING: ****
BEST SONGS: "Die Dead Enough," "Kick The Chair," "Back In The Day"
At this point Megadeth is, basically, yet again Dave plus a studio full of hired musicians, including none other than the original guitar player for the band, Chris Poland, of Killing Is My Business... and Peace Sells... fame. Well, finally we get a solid album from Mustaine. I would describe it as a mix between RIP and The World Needs A Hero. While the sound is similar to Megadeth's 2001 album, some of the riffs would definitely remind you of RIP, just, thankfully, not in the same "rehashing" way "Return To Hangar" was. Album-opening "Blackmail The Universe" and track 3, "Kick The Chair," would not look at all out of place on the 1990 classic, only, again, the sound is slightly more stripped. Both Mustaine and Poland definitely had time to write some excellent licks, especially Poland, who was absent from the world of metal for more than a decade. Everybody who was longing for shredding yet melodic solos may now rejoice: the album features some of the loveliest fretwork from the band in years (just check out the lead break to "Kick The Chair," and, strangely enough, it was written and played mostly not by Poland but Mustaine). Album's second track is definitely one of the most surprising pieces from Dave: his take on the Agent 007 story is priceless. Poland's intro is wonderful, and the chorus has gotta be one of the catchiest moments in Megadeth's history, as well as the history of metal overall, too bad it is only played twice and does not appear in the second half of the song. Other cool moments include bitter "Tears In A Vial" (Dave would not be Dave, had he not written about a relationship-gone-wrong), thrashy "Back In The Day," and sarcastic "Truth Be Told." People also seem to complain about "Of Mice And Men," but I like it: it's like a slower, more melodic "Victory." The closing "My Kingdom" would be fairly boring, if not for the lyrics, taken straight out of the movie "Excalibur," which happens to be one of my all-time favorites. A pretty solid return to form, just when many people already started giving up on the band.
UNITED ABOMINATIONS (2007)
RATING: ***1/2
BEST SONGS: “Washington Is Next,” “Never Walk Alone,” “Toute Le Monde (Set Me Free)”
Musically this album picks up right where The System left off. Mustaine’s tour band joined him in the studio, and the Drover brotherly connection provides the solid background for Dave’s creativity. The material is fine, very much in the mold of The System…, only slightly more aggressive: a mix between Rust In Peace snarly riffing and Youthanasia dark melodies. The last likeness is highlighted by “A Toute Le Monde-2006,” which is totally identical to the original, save for the guest appearance by Christina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil. I don’t like her in Lacuna Coil and I sure as hell don’t like her in Megadeth. Marty Friedman’s solo was for some reason made longer by Glen Drover, but I am not sure it gained much from it. Opening “Sleepwalker” features a nice bombardment of riffs, similar to “Blackmail The Universe.” The main harmony in “Washington Is Next” was lifted from Iron Maiden’s “Wasted Years,” but overall it’s a good song. “Never Walk Alone” is another rocking piece, recalling “Vortex” (although I could do without the slowbit in the middle). “Gears Of War” has a nice plodding groove. Unfortunately, this album has a mandatory share of “just kinda there” tracks; a problem that has been plaguing Megadeth since Youthanasia: “Play For Blood,” “You’re Dead,” etc. Mustaine’s lead guitar is really good (I prefer his solos to Drover’s – check out the ripping conclusion to “Burnt Ice”!), but his lyrics are yet again hit-or-miss. Along with some decent stuff (“Sleepwalker” – about a man committing crimes in his sleep, “Burnt Ice” – about a meth addict, etc.), his political ramblings are just a pain to read or hear. Bemoaning the eroding family values in “Washington Is Next” from the man who lived the rock’n’roll lifestyle to the full in the 80s and did more drugs than the whole state of Arizona is nothing short of asinine (although the song itself is excellent, once you distance yourself from the message). Slogans like “Jihad Joe, we’re coming to get you!” in “Amerikhastan” ring hollow and can scare absolutely nobody after years of false promises and failed missions by our nation’s administration. The retarded puns in the title track attack on the UN make me cringe. In fact, this album’s message is 180 degrees apart from The System…, which contained bitter criticisms of Bush & Co (“I red, white, and blew it”). Vic The Rattlehead now has a new “humanized” look. All in all, the album is very enjoyable, but the problems mentioned prevent it from being great.
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