Author: Rok Klemše
Artist: Megadeth
Label: Tradecraft Records
Release: year_month
Runtime: 45:14
Rating: 2.5/5
Ah Dave, Dave. Lately we’ve mostly been smacking our foreheads over your paranoid rants about Obama, your conspiracy theories and your conservative Republican nonsense. But since the music is what matters (»Listen to Music, Not Rumors!«), anyone who really cares can, with a bit of extra effort, sidestep your silliness and ignore it. So let the music do the talking, Megadeth said, and last August they announced they were starting work on a new album. This February the record, made with a producer named Johnny K at Mustaine’s own studio, Vic’s Garage, finally got its name, Super Collider, and came out on Mustaine’s own label, Tradecraft.
The very first short snippets from the studio promised quite a lot, with plenty of fast, aggressive riffs, but the first single, the title track, brought those big hopes crashing back down to earth, sounding at best like a leftover from the Cryptic Writings/Risk days. That dreadful, boring, radio-friendly tune was followed by Kingmaker, which, with its destructive thrash energy, solid riffing and a vibe like something off Headcrusher, promised much more. Still, the new record was taken with a grain of salt, mostly because of the odd choice of producer (Johnny K is best known for producing Disturbed), Mustaine’s babbling about Willie Nelson guesting on the album, and finally the news that David Draiman (Disturbed, Device) would make an appearance. Huh?
So what’s the result? The biggest problem with the new record, first and foremost, is the poorly and pitifully structured songs. For the most part they have very little to do with thrash/speed metal, since Super Collider is, genre-wise, closest to hard rock. No problem there, that would be easy enough to swallow too, since Megadeth have put out some perfectly solid hard rock tunes in the past (Trust and the like), but the songs are plagued by serious stagnation that’s neither fish nor fowl. Megadeth keep you hanging the whole time, waiting for a really good riff or a punchy passage to hit… and it never happens. Where are the good old Megadeth, who were like a roller coaster where you never really knew what was waiting around the next bend? They were still capable of that on the newer albums Endgame and Th1rt3en, but the forty-five minutes of Super Collider are, with rare exceptions, pure boredom and definitely the worst Megadeth release since The World Needs a Hero, maybe even since the controversial Risk. Instead of white water, Megadeth throw us into a stagnant, muddy puddle full of debris.
A quick look at the songwriting credits hints at the probable biggest problem – Mustaine is still stubbornly, convulsively clinging to sole authorship. Megadeth show a bit more guitar pyrotechnics and thrash energy this time only on Kingmaker, Built For War and The Beginning of Sorrow, where Dave shares the writing credits with his bandmates. Otherwise most of the songs suffer from a lack of varied wandering up and down the guitar neck (the vast majority of riffs are a repeating three-or-four-chord progression) and a simple approach with a very average, sullen performance from all four members. Where’s Mustaine’s big talk now about Chris Broderick being the best guitarist the band has ever had? On Super Collider, Mustaine is once again flirting with more commercial tricks and simple songs, probably aiming for high chart positions again. But damn, there’s a black mark in every single track that you just can’t overlook. If you’re looking for lyrics that were once intelligent and socially/politically/culturally critical, you’ll be looking in vain. It all sounds like a sermon (don’t do drugs, help your friends, etc.), and with awful lyrics like »Burn baby burn, because it feels so good.« to boot. Mustaine goes even further with The Blackest Crow, on which Willie Nelson and/or Miranda Lambert were supposedly originally going to guest, and which even opens with a banjo/bluegrass/country intro. I never thought he’d use the words Megadeth and banjo in the same sentence.
Still, Super Collider does have a few shining moments. Besides the aforementioned destroyer Kingmaker, there’s the more aggressive Built For War (which is spoiled by Mustaine’s vocal performance, where he sounds like a frog with a cold), the solid centerpiece Dance in the Rain (a promising tune ruined by Draiman’s dreadful “singing,” which sounds like someone’s squeezing him from the side), The Beginning of Sorrow, which recalls the Youthanasia era, and Don’t Turn Your Back…, which closes the record in a similar way to its crushing opener and nicely rounds out the whole thing. The track surprises above all with its “Hendrix-style Little Wing” intro, which then explodes into the fastest moments on the record and without a doubt the best riffing on it, accompanied by Drover’s artillery-like syncopated drumming. Finally, for the first time since 1988 (Anarchy In the UK, on the album So Far, So Good… So What!), Megadeth offer a cover, this time of the Thin Lizzy classic Cold Sweat, which fits perfectly into the Megadeth world and is even one of the better moments on the album.
So what’s left if you can count only three or four good moments on an album, and one of them is an already-heard single and another is a cover (admittedly excellently done)? Precious little. If this is all (Mega?)Dave has got after almost thirty years in the game, maybe it’s time to think about retirement. Because on Super Collider, Megadeth aren’t a supersonic particle collider but a rusty, squeaky wheel that an aging, chubby hamster is struggling to spin.
Lineup
Dave Mustaine – vocals, guitar
David Ellefson – bass
Chris Broderick – guitar
Shawn Drover – drums
GUESTS:
David Draiman – backing vocals (6, 9)
Production
Johnny K
Track list
1. Kingmaker
2. Super Collider
3. Burn!
4. Built For War
5. Off the Edge
6. Dance in the Rain
7. The Beginning of Sorrow
8. The Blackest Crow
9. Forget to Remember
10. Don’t Turn Your Back…
11. Cold Sweat (bonus; Thin Lizzy)
