So before I start this review proper I must confess something, I am a massive Megadeth fan! Yes I am a recent convert to the church of Dave Mustaine and all that is thrash metal. My process of listening through the album of Peace Sells to Killing is My Business to Rust in Peace was one of the best times in my whole life. Those riffs, those solos, the bass tone and even Dave’s voice grew on me. So to say I was excited when mid way through this personal renaissance I found out that they had a new album coming would be an understatement. So out I went to my local itunes store and bought the single.
However this was in 2013 so instead of jazz infused, technical, raw thrash metal I preordered this instead:
While -controversial view- Super Collider is not a bad song, being well structured, with a nice couple of hooks and decent solos. To me though it is not the Megadeth that I fell in love with, it sounded watered down and safe, which could be said about the whole album as well. It looked as though Shawn Drover and Chris Broderick thought so, since they left left late 2014 to go form Act of Defiance (good idea, terrible name), leaving Megadeth a drummer and guitarist short. But, as any good Megadeth fan knows a few members leaving isn't enough to deter the band, but just adds fuel to the fire and so in a stroke of genius for this new record they have recruited Angras Kiko Loureiro and Lamb of God’s stickman's Chris Adler. Now whilst I have not heard much/if any of Angra before and don't profess to be the biggest Lamb of God fan, I respected Chris Adler’s skill as a drummer and in interviews both he and Kiko seemed genuinely passionate and thrilled to be a part of the band, so I got this weird sensation of hope, I felt as if Megadeth could be rejuvenated! So I put my money where my mouth is and pledged for their forthcoming new album.
So now the ball is in your court Megadeth, hit me.
Whoa, first off, this is a definite improvement, this is definitely a big improvement in my eyes, this is way closer to the megadeth that I know and love.
Starting with a flurry of guitar scraps and disjointed chord stabs and drums the song gives way to a Dave Ellefson signature bassline, fast, clean, and dieseled powered, as almost to signify that this Megadeth are straight talking thrash metal master musicians. The band joins Dave’s bassline with a fast, almost Annihilator sounding riff, that is still distinctly Megadeth and by the way the riff is mightily heavy. Then enter Mustaine's vocals, sounding the best that they have sounded for a long while, the reason being he is not singing. Dave’s vocal strength has always come from the originality in his voice and phrasing and in this song he hints at some of his snarling and pontificating best, even if some of the lyrics are not as savvy a they could be I.E “Guilty of a crime of nonconformity” really, Dave.
The stand out element to me is Chris Adler, to me it is clear that he wants to both push the music to be as heavy and technical as possible while pushing himself and elevating the others. Here I think that he has done a perfect job making it seem like he was born for this role, I could be over the top and say that he is the next Nick Menza incarnate of the band but I wouldn't do that now would I?
Kiko’s guitar work in this sound seemed like a mixed bag for in the rhythm sections he is a perfect compliment to the whole and does add the extra layer of tightness and heaviness to the overall package. But the solos although were frantic and suited the song I felt was run of the mile in terms of simple shredding and have not been one that I could clearly remember.
Overall I have not been able to turn this song off. This is the megadeth that I wanted them to be for the Super Collider album, although the song is not perfect and is not quite as good as their 80′s era, it is still a testament that Megadeth should never be counted out as a musical force designed to piss people off or bring them together. So I would highly recommend this song and I will be waiting excitedly for their new album to drop January 22nd.
