Given this, I can really only agree with that opinion. I'm not sure what I expected from this album, given what I felt was the unevenness of the last few Megadeth albums. What I didn't expect was the almost total lack of grunt and power. I mean, Megadeth was at the forefront of thrash metal, wasn't it? You'd have a hard time convincing anyone of that if they had heard nothing of Megadeth except this album. Honestly, this would be like putting on what you thought was the new Foo Fighters album, but finding out it is actually the new Nickelback album. That is the difference between what I would consider Megadeth to be and what I found on Super Collider.
Is it bad? Well, no I guess not. But wow it is different. The opening song "Kingmaker" is OK, a decent riff and it moves along at a reasonable pace. "Super Collider" is a drifter, in that it never really kicks into gear, and Dave's vocal just wanders through the song with out ever gaining any momentum. "Burn!" almost sounds like a reject song from Countdown to Extinction or Youthanasia, one that didn't have enough to be considered for those albums... but it makes it here. The same could be said for "Built for War". Having made it this far into the album, you really begin to wonder what the motivation was for the band this time around. Sure, there are some reasonable licks and solos in the mix, but where is the energy and emotive moments, the ones that get up out of your chair and start pumping your fist in the air, or playing that air guitar or drum kit? They can't be found here. I mean, "Off the Edge" is a boring, repetitive hard rock song that goes nowhere musically or vocally. It is lifted by the solo break, but then it is back to monotony.
"Dance in the Rain" is OK, it too reminds you of those previously mentioned albums with Dave's monologue replacing singing for much of the song. "Forget to Remember" is my favourite song on the album, but I'm not really sure what attracts me to it. My next favourite would be "Cold Sweat", the Thin Lizzy cover that concludes the album. It really cements the whole experience as a very un-Megadeth release. There is basically no metal on here at all, it is a very hard-rock oriented album, albeit with that Megadeth sounding twist. And seriously, what the fuck is with the fiddle and other assorted instruments in the song "The Blackest Crow"?! That song really makes me question where this band is headed. I don't have anything against artists trying some innovation in their material, but I do question the setting. B-sides of singles, or one-off EP's between albums, would be the perfect place. Megadeth has already had its Risk and I'm not sure they need to go down that path again.
Whatever Dave was looking to achieve with this, I guess only he knows. It is Megadeth's highest charting album since Youthanasia which only goes to prove that good marketing can get people to buy almost anything. As for its musical direction, as a lifelong fan of the band almost since their inception, this album is the one that has caused me the most concern. Perhaps it is a one off, where some new things were attempted that will not be the case the next time around. Or perhaps this is the beginning of Megadeth's journey to commercial hard rock, and the attempt to pander to hard rock fans. Whatever the answer is, all I can suggest is that while this is not a complete dead loss, it has drifted into what I would term as "easy listening hard rock". It is up to the individual as to what they like, but for me, this isn't it.
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