MEGADETH’s thirteenth studio offering, aptly entitled TH1RT3EN, is the first album to feature original bassist David Ellefson since 2001’s mediocre The World Needs a Hero… , and vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine certainly has brought out all the goodies from his deep arsenal of face-slamming riffs that will no doubt cut you in half. Picking up where the brilliant Endgame left off in 2009, the listener in 2011 is treated to the highly recognizable Mega-sounds from various eras in their legendary history. This reviewer specifically loved 1992’s Countdown To Extinction overall more than anything the band has done in the last twenty years, so that’s what I wanted to hear — plain and simple.
What am I after here, ladies and gents? It’s easy: crazy, precision-guided missiles of guitar solos that blast my penis off, super meaty bass lines that make we want to groove all day and night, all tied to one pummeling Nick Menza-like double bass drumming assault that inspires me to kick down walls. Let me say that I was not left disappointed, and trust me, I was planning on turning the screws if this thing did suck. On perfect rockers “Public Enemy #1”, “Guns, Drugs & Money”, and “Fast Lane”, you get the riff domination that Mustaine is so well known for. Beyond that, there are indeed a hundred plus moments on TH1RT3EN that make you appreciate what the veteran act has accomplished. Not many bands last thirteen months, let alone thirteen albums, so I am seriously proud to see that these old cats (The Two Daves) still have some major fight left in them. Second guitarist Chris Broderick, playing in the long cast shadow of the great Marty Friedman, is still a youngster in this game but flashes moments of definite six string supremacy on track ten’s “Wrecker”. Drummer Shawn Drover does a more than competent job on all thirteen tracks. I’d like to see them try and even capture more of the ‘Countdown’ sound on the next album, continuing with this kind of stellar songwriting – and possibly even do something more epic on number fourteen.
ROCKET REVIEW:
[starreview tpl=16]
MEGADETH – “TH1RT3EN” (CD)
(Roadrunner Records/2011)
1. Sudden Death
2. Public Enemy No. 1
3. Whose Life (Is It Anyways?)
4. We The People
5. Guns, Drugs & Money
6. Never Dead
7. New World Order
8. Fast Lane
9. Black Swan
10. Wrecker
11. Millennium Of The Blind
12. Deadly Nightshade
13. 13
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