Dave Mustaine’s thrash war machine take their curtain call, finishing as he started, doing things his way whether you like it or not.
In music, legacy is a curious thing. While artists lucky enough to have long careers toil away for decades to build a body of work, precious few have the chance to consciously put a full-stop on their recording career. Going quietly isn’t Dave Mustaine’s style, though, so he’s been upfront about Megadeth’s 17th album being their last. In short: it suits the ethos of their mastermind.
Neither the radial neuropathy that caused Dave to hit pause between 2002 and 2004, nor the 2019 cancer diagnosis and treatment he’ll chronicle in his forthcoming memoir, In My Darkest Hour, could bring about the end of Megadeth. Instead, it was the frontman that made the call, and this is his parting gift. But while its self-titled status suggests definitiveness, it will come as little surprise that in a discography including such unimpeachable classics as Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? and Rust In Peace, this doesn’t reach those impossibly high bars. Instead, it sees Megadeth doing what they’ve always done, and so in one sense is an accurate reflection of their 42 years.
Of course, the musicianship is absolutely on point, in part thanks to the inclusion of virtuosic Finnish guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari – making his first and only appearance on a Megadeth record. His duelling work with Dave makes Tipping Point, Made To Kill and I Am War sound reassuringly alive and urgent, while as ruthlessly executed as one might expect. There’s fun to be had celebrating the eternal power of the riff, of course, even when things get meta on Let There Be Shred, which, like blackheads, is on the nose but easy to live with.
The patience of anyone but a superfan might be tested by some of Dave’s less desirable characteristics – including a predilection for score-settling and leaning into facets of his band’s sound he’s more enamoured than listeners. This is typified by I Don’t Care, a petulant piece of punk raspberry-blowing that probably shouldn’t have been a single given that it’s far from this record’s finest moment. Making mistakes is what happens when you take chances, though, and Dave has never shied away from trying things that others wouldn’t – while 50 million-plus album sales and a GRAMMY win would suggest he’s on the money more often than he’s not.
Dave’s on safer ground, despite being less explored ground, when he’s writing more obviously from the perspective of the man he is now, a man in his 60s on the verge of calling time on the thing he’s done for the vast majority of his life. The Last Note finds him grappling with what it means to walk away from something that’s given and taken so much from him, with the knowledge that the fruits of his labours will live on forever: ‘Let this last note never die.’
His career-long partiality to bold gambles is surely one of the reasons for the much-publicised inclusion of Ride The Lightning as a bonus track. Given that he was one of the architects of the song during his tenure in Metallica, this version is suitably fiery and technically adept, but what’s the best possible outcome that could have come from doing it? Whether this was an exercise in creative reclamation or dick measuring, however good, it’s going toe-to-toe with an original that’s permeated the public consciousness over four decades.
In this way, then, Megadeth (the album) is the perfect encapsulation of how Megadeth (the band) have lived: bold, frequently brilliant but occasionally flawed. And, despite The Last Note’s insistence there’ll be ‘a quiet end to it all’, they're going out very fucking loudly, indeed.
Verdict: 3/5
For fans of: Power Trip, Anthrax, Exodus
Megadeth is released on January 23 via BLKIIBLK. Get your limited-edition green splatter vinyl now.
