Big 4 Thrash titan Megadeth have released a new video for the title track off of their most recent album “Super Collider.” I reviewed the bands latest offering as fairly as I could here. If you’re a Megadeth fan and somehow missed this new record, you can check out the new video, listen to some of the better songs from the album I’ve included and pick up the album. If you’re not a fan, check out this video for a couple laughs and move on.
The "Super Collider" video basically is about a situation where a nerd gets the girl after a long time. But like the girl liked the nerd in high school and her Dad, Dave Mustaine who looks like he could play the role of angry prison warden pretty damn well, is the only thing that kept them separated. And then at the 10th anniversary high school reunion, the girl goes and gets the grown up nerd and they run off, happy as can be. But I don’t get it? Why did it take 10 years plus for that to happen? This video is hilariously terrible, a perfect fit for the worst song off the album.
This brings me to my last point. This video is sooo bad. It’s just terrible. How did the once great thrasher Dave Mustaine see this and be satisfied enough to let it see the light of day? Should great bands hang it up when their creative primes are dead and gone? How can musicians continue their careers, they do make their living off of music, without starting a new band and completely starting over, but avoid completely ruining and tarnishing their legacy? No one wants to be a joke, and that’s exactly what a lot of these guys become. Megadeth included. So many questions, no answers.
The new Megadeth album is really an odd phenomenon. Riding the wave of contempt that has grown steadily following a series of boneheaded moves made by vocalist, singer, songwriter, band figurehead and mastermind Dave Mustaine aka Megadave. It seems like everyone in the metal community has been gearing up to hate this record. And for good reason, it pretty much sucks. But not as hard as everyone is saying it does. I would never argue that Dave Mustaine hasn’t made a joke out of himself. Right wing assertions of conspiracies led by Obama and the rest of the government and the born again Christian, creationist ideology he’s recently grown to accept and endorse are batshit insane. In this instance I really don’t care about tolerating other opinions, Dave’s gone off the deep end. I mean he was already a pretty serious douche to begin with but he’s easily topped that in the last couple of years. I came into my first run through of “Super Collider” wanting to dislike it, but for the sake of the objectivity of the review, I’m going to compare the newest Megadeth CD to the band’s previous work and the modern work of Big 4 contemporaries to present an accurate representation of the worth of “Super Collider.”
First I’ll start with the easiest comparison, Dave’s vocals. They’ve always sucked and always will. Dave should never, ever, ever, ever, ever been the singer of Megadeth. If Mustaine left on his own accord, rather than being booted from Metallica, he never would have entered a competition of egos with Hetfield and never would have been the singer of a band. And that’s how it should have been. Objectively as a vocalist, Dave sucks. End of story. But he really doesn’t suck that much harder on “Super Collider” than he did on any of his other albums. I really tried to hear if there was a significant difference and I just don’t. If his talents have slipped with age, it’s certainly not nearly as significant a slip as seen in the vocals of James Hetfield and probable equal to that of Tom Araya’s. It’s not exactly fair to fault “Super Collider” for its shitty vocals if you haven’t faulted classics like “Rust in Peace” or “Peace Sells… but Who’s Buying?” for them as well. And if you have, well feel free to keep bitching.
Continuing in the same realm, I’ll look at the lyrics. Once again, Dave’s lyrics have always sucked hard. They’ve been corny, fairly basic, and save for a few possible exceptions, devoid of any lyrical or intellectual value aside from basic political sentiments. Let’s look at two examples of lyrics from the band’s first album, “Killing IS My Business … And Business Is Good!” First from the song ‘Loved to Death’: Your body’s empty now as I hold you, Now you’re gone I miss you, But I told you I remember bad times more than good, There’s no coming back even if we could, I loved you to death’ and from the title track: “I am a sniper, always hit my mark, Paid assassin, working after dark, Looking through the night using infra-red, My target on you, aimed at your head, ten thousand up front, ten thousand when I’m through, And I know just what to do, and ya know I’ll do it too”. This is the same level of corny suck found on “Super Collider” and every other album of Megadeth’s career. And honestly Metallica and Slayer have probably seen more significant drop offs in lyrical quality. Their lyrics are still miles ahead of Dave’s lyrics, but Dave has probably been more consistent at sucking lyrically than the other two bands have been at being awesome.
Now for the same analysis of the riffs. Like any metal band, Megadeth is a riff orientated band. The riffs are what often stick in the listener’s head. Solid riffs are what define an album, especially in a thrash album. In this department Megadave has definitely slipped. The riffs aren’t nearly as well defined, aren’t as refined or perfected and aren’t as catchy and solid as on previous Megadeth releases. But there are some actually solid riffs on this album. Songs like "Kingmaker", "Burn!" and "Don’t Turn Your Back…" feature riffs that are actually pretty solid. And honestly, I really dig "The Blackest Crow", banjo and all. Compared to the Big 4 bands, (I have never listened to a full Anthrax album so I have nothing to say about them if you haven’t noticed yet) Megadeth has dropped off in the songwriting department on this album more than Metallica and Slayer did on their recent albums. But both of those bands definitely are not as great as they once were. But look at it this way. Metallica has released two albums since the start of the new millennium. Slayer has released three. Megadeth has released 6. That’s 3x Metallica’s output and 2x Slayer’s. More does not equal better, but fans of Megadeth may certainly be able to deal with some drop off in the quality in the songwriting considering the much shorter wait in between albums.
Aesthetically I’ve read some criticism of this album. I’ve heard some people accuse Megadeth of selling out with this album and I’ve definitely seen it criticized for being more of a heavy hard rock album than a thrash metal album. Well once again, that’s Megadeth. The opening riff of “Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good!” would fit right in on “Super Collider.” This album, just like every other album toes a line between hard rock and thrash. Megadeth is not the same kind of thrash as Slayer or Metallica. It’s a little different, a little more hard rock. That’s the Megadeth signature sound, take it or leave. Yes this album isn’t as heavy as previous albums, but it certainly isn’t a "Load" or "ReLoad" type of drop off. And I happen to accept and enjoy those two albums by Metallica. “Super Collider” is not weak enough to be completely ruined. I don’t even need to discuss the changes in style undergone by other members of the Big 4, it’s just too obvious.
So that’s my comparison based objective, I tried at least, review of “Super Collider.” Megadeth, like all music is polarizing and subjective. Dave’s personal antics have done nothing to help his case and I think he is to blame for a lot of the negative publicity and criticism of the newest album. It certainly does not stand with the Megadeth classics, but it is not worthy of some of the extremely low ratings I’ve been seeing.
To fairly rate this I’ve decided to split my ten rating points in half. 5 are available based on my opinion as a non-fan of Megadeth and a review that ignores all circumstance and Megadeth history. In this category, “Super Collider” gets a 1.5 out of 5. Now for the other 5 I approximated what I think a diehard Megadeth fan would think of this album based on what I, a Metallica and Slayer fan, think of other circumstantially comparable albums deserve. Here I’ve given “Super Collider” a 3.5/5. This gives the album a total of 5/10. “Super Collider” is worth checking out if you’re a Megadeth fan, and worth ignoring if you’re not.
First up is Big Four band Megadeth. Obviously this is a very notable release. But honestly, it feels like a major step back for megadave and his finally steady band members. New album “Super Collider” definitely features less high octane metal and more old man rock as Ted Nugent, I mean Dave settles into his new role as a rightwing, Obama hating, Christian extremist old rocker. Well anyway listen to this if you want to hear. Here’s a single.
Hardcore/metalcore band Liferuiner are back with their newest offering “Future Revisionists” today. This band has seen a completely nuts back story with locations and complete lineups changing multiple times. The band, which started as a parody of straight edge culture is going down a serious and inspirational path with this new album. From what I’ve heard, the album should be pretty solid if you’re into positive melodic hardcore. Check it out below.
Last we have classic/power metal band A Sound of Thunder. This band is pretty nuts. A ridiculously talented female vocalist fronts this band and a talented group of musicians write some tasty classic metal to feast upon. The band released an EP to preview their new album “Time’s Arrow.” This EP features the lead single, a bonus track, a Black Sabbath cover and a another version of the single featuring guest vocals. This release is pretty exciting, so check out the single if you haven’t heard of A Sound of Thunder and order the album on their website if you’re digging what you hear.
We're making a return to "The Big Four". Shrouded in metal legend, Megadeth have been going strong ever since the 80s. They are widely recognized to this day by millions of fans worldwide as leading pioneers of Thrash Metal. They've released a total of 13 studio albums so far, and you better believe number 14 is on the way!
Dave Mustaine is the name to know. Once the lead guitarist of Metallica, he was kicked due to substance abuse and conflicts with the band. Dave immediately turned around to found Megadeth who proceeded to kick unreal amounts of ass and influence the face of Thrash and metal in general. Of the original members, only Dave and the bassist Dave remain.
They made their official debut in '85 with "Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!". This immediately brought them to the front of the Thrash Metal world and they've been doing big things ever since. This includes huge albums like "Rust In Peace", "Peace Sells...But Who's Buying?", and "Countdown To Extinction" along with massive tracks such as "Hangar 18", "Symphony of Destruction", "Holy Wars...The Punishment Due", "Peace Sells" (BUT WHO'S BUYING!?), "Sweating Bullets", "Angry Again", "Gears Of War" (remind you of a certain video game?), "Dialectic Chaos" and so on... Classics out the wazoo!
As hinted above, Megadeth have a brand new album "Super Collider" heading your way this year! It's scheduled for impact on June 4, 2013. Definitely something to look forward to. Albeit the new single / title track didn't do much for me personally as they seem to be going for more of a commercial rock sound instead of metal. Maybe some of will will enjoy it more. You can check it out below the other classics from Megadeth \m/
THIS is one of those line ups that just makes your jaw drop. Might drool a bit too... Iron Maiden will be trekking through segments of the US on a 10 day tour with Megadeth, Anthrax, Testament, Sabaton, and Overkill. Yeah, you can go ahead and read that line-up again. For some metalheads out there, this is the show of dreams.
And these shows will be massive both musically and scale-wise. You can check the dates, the flyer, and music from all of the bands down below. And if you want to go (honestly, why wouldn't you?), you can grab your tickets right here! We'll see you in the mosh pit... IRONS UP! \m/
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09.03 – Raleigh, NC – Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion
09.05 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
09.07 – Kansas City, MO – Sprint Center
09.08 – St Louis, MO – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
09.10 – Austin, TX – Austin 360 Amphitheater
09.12 – Las Vegas, NV – Mandalay Bay Events Center
09.13 – San Bernardino, CA – San Manuel Amphitheatre
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