The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!

Megadeth's 21st century efforts have never been all that spectacular, and their previous album, Dystopia, didn't excite me much. When Dave began teasing snippets from this new album, I knew it was going to be a good one, and I was certainly right. The first singles that were released don't hit as hard if you listen to them alone, once you have the whole album spinning, you can really get into it's energy.

Dave Mustaine once again uses his more melodic vocals on this album. I will always prefer the classic vocals, but the man has battled throat cancer and is now in his late years, so you can't really blame him for being smoother with his voice. The guitars have a very similar tone to the one on Dystopia, with low down tuned guitars.. The riffs are honestly really great, they are catchy, groovy, and quick. Be prepared to hear lots of chugging because this album doesn't hold back on that sort of thing, I swear every album has some sort of chugging passage. The riffs honestly harken back to Rust in Peace, this is very prevalent on Nightstalkers and Dogs of Chernobyl.

The drums are quite delightful, with lots of riding and hi-hats. Oh, and blast beats too, which I was pleasantly surprised to hear on a thrash album (I haven't listened to much modern thrash, so I'm not sure if this is a mainstream thing now opposed to the 80's). The bass is fairly audible and makes its mark on the album, but I would've preferred to hear David Ellefson's bass as he has more experience and is an original member after all. Now with all the instruments accounted for, I can say with absolute certainty that the entire album is over produced and sounds flat. Pretty much every single goddamn classic thrash band making a new album is over produced and has lost its raw sound. It's like a plague for classic thrash.

Most songs hold up well with decent shredding and excellent riffs, even some of the obvious filler songs can sound pretty good. Now for the bad stuff of the album. There's way too many sound effects, and elaborate intros. It seems like every song has some sort of noisy intro that doesn't add to the songs at all. Mission to Mars has all this stupid radio crap and it gets annoying after the first time. And the absolute worst thing about this album is Ice-T's ridiculous cameo. Every time I hear it I cringe, it just makes no sense and does not fit in at all, makes me think I'm in 2003 listening to some Limp Bizkit.

I don't want to complain a lot because it's really not a bad album and a step in the right direction, a fair improvement from Dystopia, and because I spent $65 buying the album on vinyl. All jokes aside, I like this album and will most likely find myself spinning it again sometime this month. Also, turn to Toxik's new album if you find the sound on this album pleasurable. It's extremely similar. Thanks Dave once again for another solid album.

Top 3 songs: Nightstalkers, Dogs of Chernobyl, Life in Hell