Label: Dave Mustaine’s Tradecraft / BLKIIBLK
Release date: January 23, 2026
Production: Dave Mustaine
Album length: 47:17 min
Genre: Thrash Metal
Rating: 8.5/10
Megadeth! A band whose name alone stirs up a flood of indescribable emotions. And here it is! The band’s seventeenth studio album and, if the very serious announcements from the big chief himself, Dave Mustaine, are to be believed, their last one too.
After the renaissance, or mature second bloom, brought by the excellent “Dystopia” (2016), and after credibly keeping up that rediscovered momentum on its successor “The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!” (2020), the album simply titled “Megadeth” is also a very decent way to wrap up the gigantic body of work behind the band’s name. A band that has been through a string of ups and downs. A band that has nothing left to prove.
“Megadeth” is an incredibly tight album. From head to toe. From the first second to the last. All in one. This time Mustaine doesn’t overdo it with the number of tracks. The more songs there are, the greater the chance of drifting in style and quality from one to the next. Not this time. Mustaine squeezed just eleven of them onto the album. That includes a new version of the Metallica classic Ride The Lightning, whose existence in this new form means the most to its creator, Mr. Mustaine, personally. In this new guise, it treats the classic sound of the original with total respect, meaning it hasn’t gone through any major cosmetic surgery. We can count it as a bonus. A perfect extra. And just imagine if Megadeth had recorded this track soon after Mustaine left Metallica. With a twenty-years-younger (plus change) Dave? He’d have ripped it up even harder!
So technically there are (only) ten songs here. And that’s exactly why the album is so tight: those 10 tracks are cooked up from a similar recipe. The one that cemented Mustaine’s mastery in the eighties and put Megadeth at the front of the thrash metal scene! In the shine of old-school innovation, where Mustaine always had a winning poker hand of aces whenever the debate turned to who writes the best riffs in metal, the new record brings a clash of present-day production know-how, with vivid parallels to the run of albums “So Far, So Good… So What!”, “Rust in Peace”, “Countdown to Extinction” and “Youthanasia”! It reads like a collection of B-sides and lost tracks from those albums, or maybe a bouquet of phrases Mustaine kept stashed in his archives for the grand finale. Does anyone want more? Not at all. If this really is the band’s last album, it’s the best version of Dave Mustaine since his resurrection with “Dystopia”. One thing is worth mentioning, though, and it’s an old story: Dave is vocally worn out. Still, the production squeezes a pleasing dose of venom-spitting out of his voice on the new album too, which is indispensable for a record like this! Essential.
The album is played with a vengeance. The quartet is downright killer. The precision is outstanding. The rhythm section is dreamlike in its manifesto. The chemistry between Dirk Verbeuren and James LoMenzo takes your breath away! Mustaine and Teemu Mäntysaari work together flawlessly. In the harmonies, the crazy soloing, the razor-sharp phrasing. Loureiro’s departure is forgotten. The guitar work leans back on the classic days. Not just in approach, but also thanks to the new production, the work of both guitars sounds even ‘brighter’ and more classic than it did on the distinctly dark predecessor “The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!”.
Tipping Point, I Don´t Care, Let There Be Shred and Puppet Parade embody the classic Megadeth-school thrash metal assault, fueled by the raw grime of punk too (especially I Don’t Care), and they draw more parallels with the Rust In Peace days. Then there are moments like Hey God!?, which feels like a lost moment from “Youthanasia” (1994) or “Countdown To Extinction” (1992), joined by the tracks Another Bad Day and Obey the Call! In these moments Megadeth have very skillfully linked the band’s current artistic pulse (the last decade of creating) with their golden era!
If this really is the last Megadeth album, as that venerable master of inventing the best guitar phrases, Mr. Dave Mustaine, announces, it’ll be more than a beautiful farewell for the band. Let’s be honest. Bands mostly don’t know when to quit. Given Mustaine’s announcements, the decision to bury the band with the album “Megadeth” came at just the right moment. With a very good new album, Megadeth take their final bow! Amen.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. Tipping Point
2. I Don’t Care
3. Hey, God?!
4. Let There Be Shred
5. Puppet Parade
6. Another Bad Day
7. Made To Kill
8. Obey The Call
9. I Am War
10. The Last Note
11. Ride The Lightning (bonus track, orig. Metallica)
Lineup:
Dave Mustaine – vocals, guitar
Teemu Mäntysaari – guitar
James Lomenzo – bass
Dirk Verbeuren – drums
