Up next in continuing with the rewind reviews, I thought since I’ve done Metallica, I thought I’d go back and re-review Megadeth. Now since the last time I reviewed them, there’s been a new album so let’s see if anything’s changed………
Kill Em All- picture this if you will…. this is technically the first Megadeth album. I mean after all, Dave himself said that he’s responsible for creating or helping create 3 of the Big 4 of thrash and people say that for this album Mustaine Wrote Em All. So this basically means that the first lineup was James Hetfield, Cliff Burton, Lars Ulrich, and Dave Mustaine. Then picture this….James, Lars, and Cliff formed a mutiny and kicked out Dave from his own band and decided to make the better albums once he left so see it all adds up. Also when Dave renamed the band to Megadeth, he made sure to have a G so that phonetically, people would see his band first in the record stores. I’ll give it 8/10
Standouts: Motorbreath, Phantom Lord, No Remorse
Killing Is My Business And Business Is Good- so if I remember correctly from the last review, I liked it a lot more. Now it’s not as good as I remember. Don’t get me wrong, I still think it’s a badass album but there are better Megadeth albums
Previous Score: 10/10
New Score: 8/10
Standouts: The Skull Beneath The Skin, Last Rites/Loved To Deth, Chosen Ones
Peace Sells But Who’s Buying- I mean what can be said that hasn’t been said about this classic? This is one of those albums that is a perfect album. I mean this is them firing on all cylinders and this is one of those records that you don’t fuck with.
Previous Score: 10/10
New Score: 10/10
Standouts: Devil’s Island, The Conjuring, My Last Words
So Far So Good So What- again, this is one of those Megadeth albums that I feel is a little under appreciated and sometimes overlooked. It does remind me of Peace Sells but it can at times feel like a placeholder but this is another great record. It does however have one of my all time favorite Megadeth songs that being Hook In Mouth
Previous Score: 8/10
New Score: 8.5/10
Standouts: Hook In Mouth, Liar, Into The Lungs Of Hell
Rust In Peace- again, this is another you don’t fuck with kind of albums. I mean from start to finish this album just doesn’t let up and is a freaking masterpiece. I was lucky enough to see them play this whole album live 4 times and it was awesome.
Previous Score: 10/10
New Score: 10/10
Standouts: Tornado Of Souls, Lucretia, Five Magics
Countdown To Extinction- so you can kind of hear them start to slow things down and this one is almost like a preview of things to come for the next couple albums. Now I know that this is supposedly their best selling album and yes there are some hits and I actually think their most overplayed songs are on this album. A good follow up but not as good as Rust In Peace
Previous Score: 9.5/10
New Score: 8/10
Standouts: Skin O’ My Teeth, High Speed Dirt, Foreclosure Of A Dream
Youthanasia- I really really wanted to like this album a lot more but it’s got a lot of filler and at times can be kind of boring. The album artwork is cool and I have a dvd where there are commercials for this which are a great throwback but this album I don’t know just isn’t as good as I remember it. The solos from Marty Friedman are badass and there are some great songs but as a whole, this album is just mediocre. Seems like they’re trying to be like Metallica just not as good.
Previous Score: 8/10
New Score: 6/10
Standouts: Reckoning Day, The Killing Road, Train Of Consequences
Hidden Treasures- this is just a fun EP which contains songs from soundtracks and tribute albums. It’s got some great songs and it serves as a companion to Youthanasia
Previous Score: 10/10
New Score: 10/10
Standouts: Go To Hell, Diadems, 99 Ways To Die
Cryptic Writings- this one I found to be slightly better than Youthanasia but it just sort of feels like they’re trying to be Metallica. This one isn’t quite as boring or slow as Youthanasia but still, it’s got a lot of forgettable songs. The ones that are good are great but as a whole, this album is good not great.
Previous Score: 7/10
New Score: 7.5/10
Standouts: Mastermind, Vortex, She-Wolf
Risk- ok so first the positives. They tried something new and different, it starts off good, the album name is kind of cool, the promo/marketing was kind of cool (ok that’s a bit of a stretch but come on I’m working with what I’ve got!!!) that’s about it. This album is just bad. Like seriously what the hell were they thinking? Oh yeah they again were trying to be Metallica or so it would seem. Again props for trying to step outside the box but come on this??? People who say that St. Anger is the worst obviously haven’t heard Risk
Previous score: 0/10
New Score: 0/10
Standouts: Prince Of Darkness
The World Needs A Hero- ok so yes this album is a step up from Risk but come on that’s not saying a whole lot. There is some thrash elements and you can tell that they were trying to make it up to the fans but ultimately, it kind of falls flat. Just an ok album
Previous Score: 5/10
New Score: 4/10
Standouts: 1000 Times Goodbye, Dread And The Fugitive Mind, Losing My Senses
The System Has Failed- alright so here we are in 2004, and I gotta say that this album is a lot better than I remember. I really like the guitar tone on this album. It’s got that crunchy thrashy tone and it’s absolutely badass. Is it Rust In Peace part 2? Is it a great album? Yes it is. Does Dave sound refreshed and is there a new energy? Also yes.
Previous Score: 8/10
New Score: 9/10
Standouts: Blackmail The Universe, Die Dead Enough, Kick The Chair
United Abominations- I think I said in my original review that this seems to pick up where the last album left off and it absolutely still sounds that way. It’s got some thrashy elements but yet has some slower songs. Either way, it’s a lot like the previous album
Previous Score: 8/10
New Score: 8.5/10
Standouts: Sleewalker, Never Walk Alone.. A Call To Arms, Gears Of War
Endgame: they seem to be finding their way back to their thrash sound yet combining it with what they did on albums like Youthanasia and Cryptic Writings. This one reminds me a lot of the last couple but slightly better. There’s just this crunchy guitar tone that’s on it that I don’t remember from the last time I reviewed this album.
Previous Score: 9/10
New Score: 9/10
Standouts: Bite The Hand, 1,320, This Day We Fight
Th1rt3en: this one sort of feels like they sort of phoned it in. Yes there are some really great songs but then there are some that are just kind of meh. They were putting out great albums but it seems like they kinda ran out of steam a little bit here. This album is good not great and not very memorable.
Previous Score: 7/10
New Score: 7/10
Standouts: We The People, New World Order, Fast Lane
Super Collider- I said it before in the original review and I’ll say it again, if Risk had a part 2, this would be it. This album starts off promising and at first I was like “oh wow maybe it’s not as bad as I remember” but then about half way into the fourth song it’s like yep there it is. This album isn’t nearly as bad as Risk but it’s pretty damn close and in fact I don’t remember them touring behind this one for that long
Previous Score: 5/10
New Score: 2/10
Standouts: Kingmaker
Dystopia- listen to this and then go back and listen to Rust and you will hear the similarities. Now I personally love this record but I also love the Rust In Peace record. This one is just so damn good and heavy. It’s not quite as thrashy as Rust but damn is this a great album
Previous Score: 9.5/10
New Score: 10/10
Standouts: Fatal Illusion, The Threat Is Real, Lying In State
The Sick, The Dying……And The Dead- ok so this one feels very much like a continuation of Dystopia and you could say that this is one of those albums you could listen to back to back. This album does show that these guys still have it and while yes it can seem formulaic given their track record, there are some great songs on here. There’s even a song with ICE-T which is pretty badass. Definitely one of their better records and I’ll give it 9.5/10
Standouts: Night Stalkers, Sacrifice, Life In Hell
This is definitely a band that has a lot of albums to choose from and while there are some amazing and badass albums, there are a good amount of not so great albums. It’s definitely one of those examples of quantity over quality but make no mistake, I still am a big fan of this band and it is great to have a band with a somewhat diverse discography. Dave is one of those guitar players who’s very technical and his rhythm playing is just as good as a lead player not to mention all those great guitar players that came and left this band. Dave’s been through some tough times like cancer, his arm injury, etc and to come back from that is something to be said. Now if only he could keep a solid line up
Previous Album Rankings:
- Rust in Peace
- Killing is My Business and Business Is Good
- Peace Sells But Who’s Buying
- Countdown To Extinction
- So Far So Good….So What
- Hidden Treasures
- Dystopia
- Endgame
- United Abominations
- Youthanasia
- The System Has Failed
- Cryptic Writings
- Th1rt3en
- The World Needs A Hero
- Super Collider
- Risk
Final Grade: B+
New Album Rankings (conspiracy edition):
- Rust In Peace
- Peace Sells But Who’s Buying
- Dystopia
- Hidden Treasures
- The Sick, The Dying….And The Dead
- So Far So Good So What
- Countdown To Extinction
- Endgame
- The System Has Failed
- United Abominations
- Killing Is My Business And Business Is Good
- Kill Em All
- Cryptic Writings
- Th1rt3n
- Youthanasia
- The World Needs A Hero
- Super Collider
- Risk
New Album Rankings (the real ones):
- Rust In Peace
- Peace Sells But Who’s Buying
- Dystopia
- Hidden Treasures
- The Sick, The Dying….And The Dead
- So Far So Good So What
- Countdown To Extinction
- Endgame
- The System Has Failed
- United Abominations
- Killing Is My Business And Business Is Good
- Cryptic Writings
- Th1rt3n
- Youthanasia
- The World Needs A Hero
- Super Collider
- Risk
Sinister Reviews 