In my opinion Megadeth's Rust In Peace (1990) is one of the best metal albums of all time. Both Steve C and I agree the follow up, Countdown to Extinction was the closest they would get to being commercial while still remaining Megadeth. They even toured with Stone Temple Pilots off that record. The line up of Mustaine, Menza, Ellfeson and Friedman was Megadeth at its best.
Somewhere along the way after Countdown... things fell apart. They cut their hair and lost Menza and Friedman. Remember when Metallica cut their hair and went "grunge" about 10 years after grunge was popular? I think Mustaine was uncertain as to the direction of the band and which way he wanted to steer. I think they could have kept releasing Rust In Peace over and over again and still remained relevant and respected.
The four albums which followed Countdown... were quite forgettable and sounded confused, the only thing that was certain was they had lost their tunnel vision and now were blatantly aware of what everyone else was doing, and it showed.
This record, The World Needs A Hero, sounds forced to me. All the elements are here, it sounds like Megadeth, the time changes, the soloing, but something is blatantly missing. I don't think Megadeth has lost it but there is very little in the energy department. The title track is mid tempo monotony. There's just no power here and I miss the speed of old Megadeth.
Maybe I don't have the attention span I once had but with the amount of garbage being passed off as music today, I need something to grab me by the throat in order to hold my attention.
Holy fucking shit, "Coming Home To Arizona", what the fuck is this? Michael Bolton? Richard Marx? Mustaine is crooning like a diva. Trust me, you're not going to like this one. "I'm a motopsycho and I'm coming home to Arizona......" Geez.
The [pre-release] copy I have closes with "Return To Hangar" which is a call back to "Hangar 18" from the Rust In Peace record. I don't really understand the reason for such a gay reprise, when he repeats the original chorus it just makes me remember how great Megadeth was and I doubt that was his intention. Its kind of like Mustaine is reminding us "Hey, we had some good tunes over the years"
I don't know how many more Megadeth have in them. I was really disappointed with this record. I do understand as artists they need to experiment and progress and we the fans are here to take the ride with them. We might be fine with hearing Rust In Peace over and over but they aren't content with writing the same record for 10 years and that's fine, but I think I'm getting off the train.
