Endgame

Forgive me but you are about to get a brief history of my life and Megadeth.

Megadeth was the first metal band that I called my favorite. The very first song I remember hearing was Peace Sells. This was back in the early 90’s and shortly after Countdown To Extinction came out and I was excited as all hell after hearing Symphony Of Destruction on the radio. For me this was a brand new world for me. The only metal I really heard was on a radio station in Upstate NY, which was really limited to mainstream shit. I was about 14 or 15 years old and metal fans in my town and school were almost non-existent. I was an outcast and would sometimes me made fun of because metal in that shitty small town was taboo and labeled as “Devil’s Music” by feeble minded people that knew nothing about metal or much else for that matter. I soon started collecting Megadeth albums as I could afford them and it wasn’t long before I had them all; Killing through Countdown. I listened to those albums religiously, made mixed tapes of them and memorized every word, every solo, everything.

In 1994 I joined the Marine Corps. The 3 months of boot camp were hard enough but even harder not being able to listen to music. The day before I graduated we were allowed a day with our parents and we went to the PX (department store). I immediately found myself a CD player, batteries and Youthenasia, which came out about a week before. I was only allowed a few hours with my parents before graduation the next day, but during that time I listened to the new CD and it was aural ecstasy not only hearing metal music again after 3 months but FUCKIN’ MEGADETH!! I loved it even though it wasn’t their best release to date.

Three years later in 1997 Cryptic Writings came out. I was excited for that release too but it fell far short of my expectations. Not bad but not all that great. I was worried.

Two years after that, Risk was released; a more rock oriented album that featured a mainstream single called Crush ’em.  Nu-Metal was dawning and metal in my eyes was changing drastically. Nick Menza was fired and I just knew that things were not right with the band when Marty Friedman quit.

2001’s The World Needs A Hero featured a far less talented guitarist [than Marty Friedman] in Al Pitrelli. The World Needs A Hero was slightly better than Risk but it was too short and just seemed a bit bland. This would be the last time we saw Dave Ellefson in the band. The only remaining founding member of Megadeth was now solely Mustaine. Dear God, WTF?

In 2002 Dave Mustaine relapsed, got temporarily crippled in his fret-hand and decided to disband Megadeth. I decided it was time to move on.

In 2003 I heard that Dave was working on a new album and he was trying to get the classic line-up of Friedman, Menza and Ellefson back. I knew it was only a hiatus for Dave. This excited me and I was ready for a new Megadeth album, especially with that line-up. Unfortunately that didn’t happen and the only track that featured the line up was a cover of a KISS song called Strange Ways that was only on the Best Buy exclusive. I was very amped to hear that Chris Poland from the Peace Sells and Killing Is My Business years would be on the record. Before the album came out the only track I had heard was Die Dead Enough. Sounded good to me but the rest of the album was slightly underwhelming. There were a few tracks that I liked but it was still hard to listen to at times.

United Abominations had been out for about 6 months before I decided to buy it. I had almost given up on my once favorite band. I had heard good reviews of United Abominations, especially with Glen and Shawn Drover now in the band along with former BLS and White Lion bass player, James Lomenzo filling bass duties. United Abomination assured me that Dave still had it in him. UA was a good album compared to the last three. It wasn’t amazing or ground-breaking but it proved that Dave could still write a good record and still had the fire in him. My faith in Dave Mustaine and the Megadeth name was back.

So now you know where I’m coming from going in to this review of a new Megadeth album, Endgame.

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