Dave Mustaine’s big play at the time this was came out was that he felt that the band had been able to study the landscape that music was in at the time, and had been able to adjust their song writing to match it, and produced songs that not only were able to gain popularity on the charts on their release, but do so without the band losing their musical integrity, the heaviness that was the basis of their initial success. And it is true that all four singles released of the album reached top 20 in the US rock charts, and the album reached number 10. Of course, this was a source of contention for those fans that felt the band was in fact selling out rather than staying true to their music as Mustaine claimed. The fact that Mustaine indeed altered a lot of the original lyrics he wrote for the songs on the album in order to make them more accessible to the audience they were trying to attract rather than staying true to closer to what the band’s original fandom would have expected showed that this was now something that the band, or Mustaine himself at least, was chasing – an elusive number one album.
Despite it being conceptually a very un-Megadeth song, I have always liked the moody opening of “Trust” and the slow burn start before building into the heart of the song. I still think the break in the middle of the song, which had become a bit of a Mustaine thing to do, had probably beyond outlived its life cycle, but the song itself is still one I like. So too with “Almost Honest”, which again has a varied mood all the way through than what previous Megadeth songs and albums have had. Lyrically it is familiar, but without the aggression that we have had on similarly penned songs in the past, and it has the feeling of being one of those tracks that had the lyrics altered before being recorded. Still, I still think it’s one of the best songs here.
And, building on from there, the case as to whether or not you think there is an issue with the songs through the middle of the album is going to be a matter of personal taste. “Use the Man” has a sludgy pace to start off with before exploding with more familiarity towards the close of the track. “Mastermind” is probably the least exciting of this crop of songs. That isn’t to say it is a bad song necessarily, it just doesn’t inspire much excitement. In fact, ‘boring’ is probably the best way to describe it. There. I did it. “The Disintegrators” is one of the fastest songs on the album, with Nick Menza on drums having to get out second gear for the first time on the album. I think it is actually a pretty underrated song, showcasing the dual soloing from Mustaine and Friedman in a speed that better reflects what most people enjoy from Megadeth songs. This returning momentum is pretty much shackled back to the mast with the next song “I’ll Get Even”, a similar track to “Use the Man” that utilises the understated and quieter Mustaine vocals until the chorus comes around, which does tend to repeat too often. “Sin” and “Have Cool, Will Travel” are pretty basic hard rock songs that again aren’t bad but just seem uninspired compared to what this band had done in the years prior to this album. Even though they weren’t released as singles, they both have the same structure that it feels the band was searching for on this album. And while this is also true of both “A Secret Place” and “She Wolf”, they have always been favourites for me. Sure, “A Secret Place” is not going to appeal to all fans, but it has something that has always attracted me. This goes the same for “She-Wolf”, though it was in a roundabout fashion for me. I always felt it was an average song until I heard it live on a subsequent tour, where it was one of the stand out songs on that night. From that moment on it became one of my favourite Megadeth songs of their later years, and it has always been one of the star attractions here.
The conclusion of the album does more for the old fans than much of what had preceded it, with both “Vortex” and “FFF” being the fastest songs on the album along with “The Disintegrators”. It’s interesting that these songs show that Megadeth still has what it takes to produce these kinds of songs. It’s perhaps just that the desire to do so was not necessarily there.
And, building on from there, the case as to whether or not you think there is an issue with the songs through the middle of the album is going to be a matter of personal taste. “Use the Man” has a sludgy pace to start off with before exploding with more familiarity towards the close of the track. “Mastermind” is probably the least exciting of this crop of songs. That isn’t to say it is a bad song necessarily, it just doesn’t inspire much excitement. In fact, ‘boring’ is probably the best way to describe it. There. I did it. “The Disintegrators” is one of the fastest songs on the album, with Nick Menza on drums having to get out second gear for the first time on the album. I think it is actually a pretty underrated song, showcasing the dual soloing from Mustaine and Friedman in a speed that better reflects what most people enjoy from Megadeth songs. This returning momentum is pretty much shackled back to the mast with the next song “I’ll Get Even”, a similar track to “Use the Man” that utilises the understated and quieter Mustaine vocals until the chorus comes around, which does tend to repeat too often. “Sin” and “Have Cool, Will Travel” are pretty basic hard rock songs that again aren’t bad but just seem uninspired compared to what this band had done in the years prior to this album. Even though they weren’t released as singles, they both have the same structure that it feels the band was searching for on this album. And while this is also true of both “A Secret Place” and “She Wolf”, they have always been favourites for me. Sure, “A Secret Place” is not going to appeal to all fans, but it has something that has always attracted me. This goes the same for “She-Wolf”, though it was in a roundabout fashion for me. I always felt it was an average song until I heard it live on a subsequent tour, where it was one of the stand out songs on that night. From that moment on it became one of my favourite Megadeth songs of their later years, and it has always been one of the star attractions here.
The conclusion of the album does more for the old fans than much of what had preceded it, with both “Vortex” and “FFF” being the fastest songs on the album along with “The Disintegrators”. It’s interesting that these songs show that Megadeth still has what it takes to produce these kinds of songs. It’s perhaps just that the desire to do so was not necessarily there.
Unlike the previous album “Youthanasia”, where I dismissed it after two or three listens and didn’t return to it for over a year only to realise I must have made a mistake, my initial memories of this album were all good. I got drawn in by the opening two tracks in particular, “Trust” and “Almost Honest”, and the smattering of true fast and heavy Megadeth tracks kept the album rolling over and over. After an extended period when I played this album constantly for a good four month period, and probably had stars in my eyes because of the band that recorded it, this hasn’t been one that I’ve gone back to very often in the years since. But that is essentially true of all Megadeth albums beyond 1990.
When I’ve been asked to describe this album to people who haven’t heard it, I often go to the phrase that I consider this to be Megadeth’s “Black Album”. It could be said that that is what “Youthanasia” was, but that album to me still had plenty to offer without serious change to the template of the band. Here however we have a number of songs that are in a different tempo throughout, where Dave mixes up his vocals, where the guitars aren’t as prominent in a fast solo kind of way. The singles charted well, as they did for Metallica's Black Album, and the songs varied throughout. And it led the band in question on both counts down a road that was one that had fans even more offside than they were with this particular release.
I still think this is a good album. I certainly have never abandoned this album like I have others, and whenever I put it on I still enjoy listening to it. But it is different, and I can understand why there were fans out there that didn't come on board for it, and that there are still people out there who would decry it. It is a product of its age, and it is most definitely tied to the time it was recorded because of its style. But, love it or loathe it, that’s the opinion of the individual, and there are more than enough songs here to keep me putting it on again every so often, and letting the wolf out of the cage.
When I’ve been asked to describe this album to people who haven’t heard it, I often go to the phrase that I consider this to be Megadeth’s “Black Album”. It could be said that that is what “Youthanasia” was, but that album to me still had plenty to offer without serious change to the template of the band. Here however we have a number of songs that are in a different tempo throughout, where Dave mixes up his vocals, where the guitars aren’t as prominent in a fast solo kind of way. The singles charted well, as they did for Metallica's Black Album, and the songs varied throughout. And it led the band in question on both counts down a road that was one that had fans even more offside than they were with this particular release.
I still think this is a good album. I certainly have never abandoned this album like I have others, and whenever I put it on I still enjoy listening to it. But it is different, and I can understand why there were fans out there that didn't come on board for it, and that there are still people out there who would decry it. It is a product of its age, and it is most definitely tied to the time it was recorded because of its style. But, love it or loathe it, that’s the opinion of the individual, and there are more than enough songs here to keep me putting it on again every so often, and letting the wolf out of the cage.
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