Megadeth
Super Collider
Trade Caraft
5/10
Dave Mustane said that with this new album, he really had to make sure he didn’t fall into old writing habits now that he has written an upwards of 200 songs. With the last three megadeth albums, it seems that he is staying true to that discipline. So, with Super Collider you have to wonder what went wrong.
Everything starts off pretty well with “King Maker”, a galloping tale of substance abuse that could fit on Countdown to Extinction, but then the lull hits and hits hard.
The title track, which is also the first single, is a waste of time and sounds like those Alice Cooper songs from about 1996 to present where he’s trying to do something cool, but the coolness is lost somewhere between bad lyrics and iffy choruses. Though I’d like to say it gets better, it doesn’t. On “Burn”, Dave actually rhymes fire with desire. Even at his most drugged out and bitter moments, he didn’t go to that old trick.
Take heart because it does pick up with “Dance In The Rain”. Songs about the human condition and being dicked over by corporations and the Powers The Be has always been a very strong song writing pimp hand Mustane has always featured in classic and modern Megadeth offerings.
We then go back to the lull with “The Blackest Crow”. It isn’t even that this is a bad song. Initially I thought it would be about Barack Obama, but it’s actually about a guy who was left shaken and broken by his lady love. (And yeah…I said it… And it isn’t racist… I’m a black guy). As I said, the song isn’t bad. It’s a country tinged toe tapper, but maybe a guest appearance by someone with a smoother voice who can carry a country song would have helped.
I have the deluxe version of this album; which is a 50/50 split on songs worth listening to. “All I Want” is not. “A House Divided” is. Before I wrap this up, I can’t forget to point out, there is a really good cover of Thin Lizzy’s “Cold Sweat”.
I don’t know, man. Maybe Down and other bands just putting out EP’s is the way to go. If Dave Mustane just took the strongest compositions and left off the hard to pallet portions, no one would have felt cheated. However, in this case, Super Collider misses as a long player.
Michael Kirk
fullblacknegro@gmail.com