Megadeth by Megadeth is allegedly the final album from the band. It’s the seventeenth studio album so they have a substantial list of albums behind them. A well deserved retirement for Dave Mustaine I would say. Because, to be honest, Megadeth is as much Dave Mustaine as Motörhead was to Lemmy or Death was Chuck Schuldiner. He’s irreplaceable in the Megadeth context.
The first song I heard, and that was only a few days ago, was the bonus track Ride the Lightning. A song that has split fans into two groups it seems. Is it a cover of a Metallica song or is it a version of a song Dave Mustaine was involved in creating in the first place? I don’t view it as a cover. I think a good song is a good song and that Megadeth does a version of it, not a cover. But each one to his own I guess.
When I first heard it, I felt like the key was too low but this time around, perhaps because it’s the last song on the album, I don’t notice that at all. I think the ten tracks before this really sets the tone. And I think it’s a fine album! I’m not sure if it’s grown all its potential in me yet, but I find it a very worthy closure for Megadeth. One thing is for sure, this sounds like Megadeth riffs. And even if I can’t be certain since Teemu Mäntysaari is credited alongside Mustaine for songwriting credits, I would take it for granted that more of it has come from the mind of Dave Mustaine.
I don’t mean that by any means to under estimate neither Mäntysaari or anyone else involved in the songwriting. It’s just me giving in to my own presassumptions that Mustaine is a bit of a control freak. But, after all, I don’t know the guy and can only make conclusions from what I read or hear in the media, which is not really fair. But as I said, it sounds like Megadeth and that’s the main point!
Lyricwise it feels like an attempt for Mustaine to conclude his life’s work with Megadeth. There are songs about shredding and about God and everything in between. It does not rise to the height where Countdown to Extinction and Youthanasia belongs to me but it’s pretty damn good!
The last song, just before the bonus with Ride the Lightning, is a bit melancholic though. A last note finishes of with the outro
They gave me gold
They gave me a name
But every deal
Was signed in blood and flames
So here’s my last will
My final testament, my sneer
I came, I ruled, now I disappear
It feels very definitive and sad.
