Posts Tagged ‘megadeth’
Megadeth – Endgame (2009) – CD Review
I like Megadeth…really, I love Megadeth. But I’m no fanboy. I really stopped listening to them when Countdown To 
Extinction came out. I even had a little trouble listening to Rust In Peace, but it’s pretty tolerable now. I’ll also be at the front of the line to say that I prefer Megadeth’s first 3 albums over Metallica’s. Dave is a riffmaster and I am sure there are a lot of good songs on the albums between Countdown and The World Needs a Hero, but I just can’t care.
Those first 2 are simply incredible. The perfect combination of power, sweet riffage, great solos, drumming and heroin. Even So Far So Good has some really high points.
But they whimped out after Rust In Peace. Other than Friendman’s Dragon’s Kiss album, his playing never did much for me, so I stayed away from his era of ‘Deth.
Then The System Has Failed came out with Chris Poland back in the ban for the album! I had to hear it…Loved it! His trademark sound was all over the album. I got to see Gigantour and finally got to meet Dave. It was a memorable experience. That guy is pretty smart and a phenomenal guitarist. I also like United Abominations a lot.
So here we are in 2009. Another Megadeth album. Endgame. I’m impressed. Dave has always hired good guitarists and Chris Broderick (Jag Panzer) is a worthy member. He’s got some great solos on Endgame as does Dave. It’s pretty easy to tell who is who. Dave’s style is pretty unique. I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves as a guitarist, especially as a soloist.
Endgame is pretty good all the way through. The opening track is an instrumental and it does remind me of Set The World Afire in a few spots, but it doesn’t detract from the great solos. I’ve listened to this about 6 times now and I think my least favorite track is Bite The Hand. I was a little nervous when I heard about the ballad, but it’s not bad at all. My favorite tracks would be This Day We Fight, The Hardest Part of Letting Go, Endgame and 44 Minutes. Shawn Drover and James Lomenzo do a great job of holding down the rhythm.
Now I do have a few criticisms. Dave’s vocals have never been great by any stretch of the imagination. He’s certainly lost a step in his vocals over the last 2 albums. It’s natural really. He’s no spring chicken these days. They’re not bad, but he sounds a little weaker. That guy used to have one of the greatest wails in metal! I’ll also make a small complaint about the lyrics. Sure, metal has always had a bit of silliness and Megadeth sliced their share of the cheese. But it doesn’t really detract from the record. The record is good. Really good. Very rarely do I buy albums on their release day, but for modern era Megadeth, I make the exception.
Nice work, Dave. 8.5/10.
Sorry, no free download here. Go buy it, slacker.
http://www.myspace.com/megadeth is streaming it for free right now as well.
The Best of Metal Blade Vol 2
aka “One Of The Greatest Compilations Ever”
Let’s just say that Metal Blade Records really helped shape my metalness during the mid-80s. For the most part up until about 1989, if it was on Metal Blade Records, there was about a 90%+ chance that you were getting quality metal. There were exceptions of course…like Canada’s Sye. Terrible. Really.
But Metal Blade was great at putting out cool compilations like the Metal Massacre series and the Best of Metal Blade series. Today we take an in depth look at the Best of Metal Blade Vol 2.
1. LIZZY BORDEN “Notorious” – Let’s make something clear here…right now. I’m a Lizzy Borden fan and have been since I first heard them. I’m pretty sure the Give ’em the Axe EP was my indoctrination. My interest was first piqued when I saw a little blurb in Circus Magazine about the band and there was Lizzy standing there with the band on a rooftop with this huge double-bladed axe. They looked totally badass. Great albums overall but I’ve always been a little partial to Menace To Society and especially to this song. Great hooks, cool lyrics, nice production. This song has it all.
2. OMEN “Teeth of the Hydra” – Not my introduction to Omen (thanks Daniel!) but one of my favorite songs by them for sure. JD Kimball’s vocals (RIP) really set this band apart from most metal bands. He could add a tone of despair in his voice that I have never heard too many other singers do. Mustaine had that quality on the first 2 Megadeth albums as well. Something about the way they wail, it’s a bit haunting. While not my favorite of the classic 3 Omen albums, this ranks as one of my top songs from them.
3. FATES WARNING “Prelude to Ruin” – John Arch. You are the man. Fates Warning offered us another treat with Awaken the Guardian. As good of a song as this is, it’s certainly not my favorite from this album.
4. HALLOW’S EVE “Lethal Tendencies” – Yes! Great song from a great album. Sure, not the most technically proficient thrash band, but they delivered it well.
5. SLAYER “Black Magic” – (classic) SLAYER! ’nuff said.
6. DESTRUCTION “Eternal Ban” – see below
7. SODOM “Deathlike Silence” – You know, these 2 songs never did much for me. In general, was never much of a fan of either band. I think the production really ruined them for me on this early stuff. One day I’ll revisit their back catalog again…maybe.
8. SENTINEL BEAST “Dogs of War” – Awful.
9. DETENTE “Holy War” – I always dug Detente. One of the few female fronted metal bands that I could tolerate. This album was pretty good as is this song. Dawn Crosby (RIP) was a rough one. My current guitarist lived with some folks from this band back in those days and the stories and video I’ve seen of them is trippy. Talk about drinkers? wow.
10. HIRAX “Criminal Punishment” – Another band I never got into mainly because I never tried. I don’t dislike this song, but I never really paid much attention to the band. I do respect that Caton is still out there proudly flying the flag of metal.
11. FLOTSAM & JETSAM “Der Fuhrer” – Oh man. One of the greatest thrash songs ever. Period. Everything from this album just rules. But this song…oh man.
12. JUGGERNAUT “Slow Death” – Juggernaut was always hit an miss. This song is no exception. Miss!
13. HERETIC “Whitechapel” – But this song is a hit. It’s perfect. It’s mid-paced fist-pounding metal. Nice shrill-style vocals and it was about Jack the Ripper. What more could one want in a metal song?
14. SAVAGE GRACE “Trial By Fire” – Love it!
15. SOUND BARRIER “Gladiator” – I think I am one of the few who actually like these guys. This is a cool song too.
16. CIRITH UNGOL “Blood & Iron” – Ahhhhh…Cirith Ungol. How I have always held a soft spot in my heart for these guys. There were the old men of metal in LA. very unique band, very dark. Plus they had the best album covers (Michael Whelan).
17. LIZZY BORDEN “Live & Let Die” – I detest Paul McCartney.
18. CITIES “Burn Forever” – Burn burn burn…burn foreveeeeeeeer! Awesome song. The album was pretty good too. Love the vocals on this.
19. EXXPLORER “Run For Tomorrow” – Again, out of my circle of metal metal head friends, I think I was/am the only one who got into these guys. Great vocals.
20. KRANK “Rented Heat” – This is one of those songs like Crazy Night (Loudness) or Balls To the Wall (Accept) that just makes you nod your head to the mid-paced beat and want to put your fist in the air and sing along. Too bad the album was one of the worst things Metal Blade ever put out.
21. DEAF DEALER “The Fugitive” – I adore this song. One of these days I hope to run across this on CD. Hey Kelz, you still have yours?
If I think about it later, I’ll upload this for your listening pleasure.
Hey Doro! Nice ass!
Yes, I said that to her, to her face even. What a schmuck! I was 18 and one of the first 5 people in line to 
see Megadeth, Warlock and Sanctuary(!). We got there early because we wanted to be on the barricade at the Boathouse for the whole show. We were so excited to see Sanctuary…getting to see Warlock and Megadeth was just icing on the cake. But…this whole story is about Warlock.
So there we were in line when a van pulls up and Doro gets out with a few big body guard looking dudes flanking her. She walks right by us and I was trying to think of something to say. Being 18, my groin was doing most of my thinking at the time so I said, “Hey Doro!” to which she politely replied, “Jah?!” in her thick german accent. I pulled the total Butthead moment and said, “uhhhhh…nice ass!” Instantly in my head I said ‘d’oh!’ A big smile crossed her face and she said, “Oh, tank you!” Man, I felt like such a dumbass. I was such a dumbass.
But Warlock kicked total ass that night. Now if you have known me for longer than a minute, you probably know that I am not a fan of metal bands fronted by women, save a few exceptions. Warlock is one of those exceptions.
I remember it was right after meeting a former friend from high school in 1986, he introduced me to CK at the Triumph/Yngwie show. Years later I ended up in a band with CK. Good times, bad times…but back to Warlock. So we were at CK’s place and I was flipping through his records and saw Warlock’s first 2 albums, Hellbound and Burning the Witches. So he put on Burning the Witches and I was digging it. Instant fan! I proceeded to go out and buy those 2 on cassette as well as True as Steel a little later.
I remember reading in Circus magazine that they had a new one coming out called Triumph and Agony. I picked it up the week it came out and loved it. I still do. It’s not as raw as the previous 3 albums, but it’s great. Getting to see that tour was such a treat. I think there were only a few people there who actually knew anything about Warlock (or Sanctuary for that matter) and we let them know that we were fans. We were raising holy hell for them and they appreciated it. Doro made several comments about “this group of guys over here who know what the hell is going on! All of you should learn how to rock like these guys!” Sure, cheesey stage banter but to a bunch of 17 and 18 year old fans, it was pretty cool.
I was pretty disappointed when they broke up after that tour. Doro’s solo albums never did a lot for me but her debut, Force Majeur, was good enough to stay in my collection.
In order from best to worst:
- Triumph and Agony
- True As Steel
- Burning the Witches
- Hellbound
They played a good cross section of all of the albums in their set. I was super excited when they went into “I Rule the Ruins”.
Doro has played San Antonio at least twice since I moved here and I should go the next time she plays. Everyone says she still kicks ass live.
If you can find the Warlock: Live in London DVD, I highly recommend it.
The wrecking crew is out of hand…
January 1987. Junior year at my bastard filled high school of people that primarily listened to Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, INXS, The Cure and 
REM. *shudder* There was one other metalhead in my class that year that turned me on to this album and let me borrow it. Holy shit, what an album. Deny the Cross kicks in and just blows your head off. From there to the end the album never lets up. I took a very long shower today and had this playing. I got through the 3rd song (Fear His Name) and was steadily rocking out the whole time. The album is incredible. My first band used to play In Union We Stand which sounded like it was written as a single but it sill kicked ass. I can still hear J. Rob’s voice when we would play it live…”This is a song by Ova-Keel.” hahha. Brings me great joy.
The overtly suggestive Fatal If Swallowed, Power Surge and Overkill II are skull crushers. Electro-Violence is my least favorite on the album and it’s still a damn fine song.
So…thanks to Overkill for putting out a great album. Too bad Rat Skates left after the tour. Fortunately I got to see this tour when they opened up for Megadeth on the Peace Sells Tour, May 23, 1987…my junior prom night. Definitely worth missing the prom to see Megadeth/Overkill @ the Boathouse (RIP).
Sucks that the original video isn’t on Youtube.
The Metal Files 
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