For all intents and purposes Megadeth have been trying to top Countdown To Extinction since '92. That album ticked all the boxes- not too many songs, all killer, varied, great production and just under 50 minutes. Since then we've gotten the samey Youthanasia, too varied Risk, lengthy The World Needs A Hero and the not enough killer The System Has Failed. Then Mustaine woke up, maybe it was all his own brand coffee he was drinking. The last 3 releases in my opinion have been superb.
Now it feels like a band again with Junior back on bass and the ever dependable Chris Broderick and Shawn Drover recording a Megadeth album with the same line up since Cryptic Writings. It's still Mustaine's band though and his fingerprints are all over Super Collider. He wrote the bulk of the material alone, gets a co-producers credit and am sure he picked the colour of the toilet paper in the studio bathroom. Is it any good though?
I think it's fantastic but I get where some fans are coming from who can't seem to get past Rust In Peace. So let's use Countdown as a blueprint. Not too many songs (check), all killer (well.....maybe depending on the listener), varied (Kingmaker does not sound like The Blackest Crow), great production (absolutely) and just under 50 minutes. It's heavy too with no sign of a Crush 'Em anywhere. I'll be consistent and say Thin Lizzy's Cold Sweat should not have been on the cd, I'm not a fan of covers on studio albums but it's far from shit. The two Best Buy bonus tracks are just that, a nice but not better addition to the original 10 cuts. Improves with repeated plays too.
So there you have it. Another solid set of songs from Mustaine's never ending well. Four studio releases in six years is not to be sniffed at and there's no sign of extinction any time soon. One final thing, the cut and paste band photos look crap much like the ones on 13 and can someone tell me where Shawn Drover is in the super collider photo under the cd.
Richie.
http://www.megadeth.com/
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