Endgame Review

    Since the 1980's, Dave Mustaine has been one of the primary leaders in the thrash metal scene, and of course been attempting to prove he is a better guitarist than Kirk Hammet (see the infinite amount of solos found in Peace Sells). Of course more hardcore forms of metal have changed since then, but many of these 80's and 90's metal bands including Metallica, Dream Theater, and Iron Maiden are still around and recording good albums. Megadeth is among these bands but has some competition against Metallica's impressive "Death Magnetic". Does Megadeth's second album with Roadrunner stand a chance?

For the better, and quite predictable, Megadeth's formula has not and will not change. Dave Mustaine still whips out dark lyrics, hard hitting riffs, and of course an arguably obnoxious amount of solos, with a band that can keep up with him. This is not a bad thing, the formula made them a worthy opponent against Mustaine's former band, Metallica, but maybe after releasing more albums than the most popular thrash metal band of all time, maybe he's growing a little stale. The overall issue with "Endgame" is that the lyrics are basically thrown on top of the riffs without much thought put into it. It's a little awkward, especially considering Slayer was even faster and more extreme, but everything meshed together well, and this certainly wasn't a problem with there 80's and 90's hits. Endgame does feel somewhat more progressive because of audio samples and the solemn acoustic and orchestral elements of "The Hardest Part of Letting Go" that help Dave's apocalyptic vision come alive, nothing as epic as "Good Mourning/ Black Friday", but a noteworthy touch.

It's a little to bad, Megadeth is past their heyday, and their latest album won't win over those who are listening to mainstream metal exclusively. Endgame is not bad, in fact, it is worthy for any fan of the band. It undeniably feels Megadeth, but a bit less refined, another couple months smoothing out the riff/ vocal issues would've been nice. This isn't the album to get by the thrash metal legends, "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?" is. It wont change anyone's mind about the band, then again it wasn't over hyped (I didn't realize it was coming out until a few days ago), so then again, it's not supposed to.

3/5