The arrival of Jimmy DeGrasso as the band’s new drummer following the firing of Nick Menza on the tour to promote their previous album was the only change to the outfit leading into their eighth studio album. The band spent six weeks writing the songs before spending another four months in the studio to record it. The question of why it took this long has a different answer depending on which band member was questioned. Guitarist Marty Friedman was a major influence on the direction the new album was to take, as he wanted to create some point of difference in their music and pushed the envelope a little. The record company also wanted to see the band offer it more opportunities for exposure on commercial radio, something the single “Trust” had done from the previous album. DeGrasso himself was up for a heavy album, not surprising considering the stuff he would have been playing on tour. Bass guitarist Dave Ellefson was quoted in an interview as saying that the band’s manager wanted them to release something that would have all of the other band out their smack their foreheads and proclaim ‘why didn’t we think of that?!’
While Metallica’s decision making at that time was obviously still extremely popular and profitable, something Mustaine constantly seemed to aspire to, for much of the Megadeth fan base, the continuity that the band had been able to bring to their albums over the years gave them a sense of comfort, and when the new album was announced the feeling of excitement came from the fact that yet another Megadeth barnstorming album was about to hit the shelves with more awesome tracks and headbanging material.
Error.
This album took massive liberties with the Megadeth sound and direction and entitling it “Risk” pretty much covered all the bases. Because it was a definite risk to mess around with what had worked for the band for such a long time, in order to gain more radio airplay or more widespread recognition.
From the opening of the album, there is a highly critical difference in what is offered than what had come on their previous albums. It’s industrial alt-rock mixed with lifeless rock ballads, songs that sound like they are either stretching for commercialism or for the alt-rock credibility stakes, where sales are the driving force but the ‘hey man – this is awesome’ call from the general public.
Now, if you just want to listen to this album and not expect anything from it, there are moments that are tolerable. If you close your eyes, and see mishmash of Nickelback and Creed up there trying to create a heavier sound than they normally do, you could probably get something out of this album. Beyond that... it’s a difficult listen if you turned up for a Megadeth album.
The first half of the album is tolerable. “Insomnia” is a mish mash of strings and screams and patchy lyrics that doesn’t allow you to bang along in time or even sing along to the lyrics, such is its structure. “Prince of Darkness” is a moody, building song but again doesn’t bring any great love to the table and it isn’t a pure heavy metal song. It has its moments where it comes into its own. “Crush ‘Em” has a vibe that you can tap along to, probably because Mustaine wanted this to be an arena anthem and be played around the world. You can hear how he crafted it to be just that. So it’s okay without being any more than a chanting tune, one you could possibly get on board cheering your team into the arena by. Maybe. And “Breadline” has a very mainstream sound to it, mostly lyrically as Dave decides to try and sing in a much softer tone than he normally does which is a dead ringer for that commercial bent. The single did well on American charts, but it just doesn’t do anything as a metal song in the slightest. But at least it isn't a power ballad.
But as for the rest? It doesn’t improve with age. “The Doctor is Calling” has pretty much nothing going for it. Dave chants along while the drums roll slowly and patiently and the guitars play some semblance of a tune before an almost-solo breaks out towards the end, but without any real energy at all. “I’ll Be There” for all intents and purposes IS that wretched power ballad that destroys all heavy music. As average as most of the songs are on this album this is still the one that sends shivers down my spine every time I hear it, and not in a positive fashion. This is the kind of song that could have destroyed Megadeth if it had had any kind of success, because then perhaps the band would have felt the need to keep writing songs like it. No, this is terrible. It is the antithesis of the great Megadeth songs Dave wrote of his ex-girlfriends, the songs that are the greatest in the Megadeth discography.
I can’t even describe the reaction I get when “Wanderlust” comes on. Just what exactly is being thought of in this song is beyond me. This is followed by “Ecstacy” which is the exact incorrect emotion I get listening to this song. It again has gone for a basic musical premise in riff and rhythm, with no excitement or energy appearing in any form. Terrible. There is even less to be said about the remainder of the album. “Seven” is a mirror image of the previous two songs, while the double track at the conclusions of the album, “Time: The Beginning” and “Time: The End” simply don’t carry their weight. The majority of the first track is acoustic based and without any great drive, while the second track is more electric but in such a mournful way that it becomes depressing to even get to the end of the album.
When this album was released, I was driving taxis as my main source of income back home in Kiama after five years living in Sydney, and I spent a LOT of time listening to it while I waited for fares in the middle of the night. I still remember the excitement I felt when it came out and I bought it, and the number of times I listened to it was astronomical. Because, you know, it’s Megadeth, right? It HAS to be good! And I continued to listen to it over and over again. And, after a few weeks of doing this, I finally began to question... is this a good album? Is it enjoyable? And I finally came to the conclusion that... no, it really was not good. Indeed, it was on such a different plane from what I was enjoying at that time of my life that it was hard to believe that this wasn’t very good, and that I was still wasting my time listening to it! But, in those pre-streaming days, that’s what you did, because you could only afford to buy a certain number of albums each year, and when you did, you needed to get your money's worth out of them. The final straw was swapping it in my taxi for Gamma Ray’s “Powerplant” album one day, and the amazing difference in quality relegated “Risk” to the CD shelves for a very very long time.
Are there any redeeming features on this album? My opinion is that it really doesn’t seem like it. The first half of the album, up until the end of “Breadline”, was eventually as far as I would get if I ever put this album on. It was the finish for me, because everything after this point has got nothing that interests me whatsoever. That’s not to say the first half was much better, but I can at least muddle my way through if it becomes necessary. And the fact is that most of the people involved in that album feel much the same way about it now. The title “Risk” apparently came about from a quote by Lars Ulrich, either in a magazine article or a TV interview, where he claimed that Mustaine and Megadeth had to take more risks with their music if they wanted to achieve the kind of success that Metallica had. Well thanks very much for that Lars, way to fuck up TWO bands for the price of one. With the disastrous direction (in my own opinion) Metallica had taken on their last two studio albums “Load” and “Reload”, the announcement of a new Megadeth album had been a welcome relief. It was a great feeling to know that I could expect more of the same from this band, that no matter how bad things were getting, there was no way Megadeth could record an album as uninteresting and boring as “Reload”. Wrong.
Dave Mustaine was apparently quoted as saying “If anyone else’s name was on the cover of this album, it would have sold”. So on a couple of occasions I have put this album on, and just listened, not letting any judgement on the name of Megadeth enter what I’m listening to, just to see if I would enjoy the album as something someone had put on and asked me to listen to it and judge it without knowing who the band was. It did not improve. I have listened to this album a lot over the past month, because it is Megadeth and I needed to know if there could be any change to the way I feel about this album. There is not.
The fact that this was Marty Friedman’s final album with Megadeth was both sad and probably welcome. His own path was leading in a different direction and he needed to take that on his own. For Megadeth, the path that this album took was probably not repeated, but that didn’t mean that there were not albums beyond this that were not questionable when it came to their output.
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