Roadrunner
2011
1. Sudden Death
2. Public Enemy No. 1
3. Whose Life (Is It Anyways?)
4. We The People
5. Guns, Drugs & Money
6. Never Dead
7. New World Order
8. Fast Lane
9. Black Swan
10. Wrecker
11. Millenium Of The Blind
12. Deadly Nightshade
13. 13
Megadeth are both a personal favorite of mine and a band who have been on a roll of late. This is a band that hit the rocks for awhile, but really managed to rebound to find their place in metal again. Between the recent output of The System Has Failed, United Abominations, and Endgame I really didn't have much reason to doubt this. Megadeth have just been making good and have reestablished themselves as a band with some solid, talented members and good songwriting. The door on the members continues to revolve a little bit, but with the backing of Ellefson, Drover, and Broderick there is no reason for complaint right now.
I've gotta say that when I started to listen to Th1rt3en I was underwhelmed from the start though. Sudden Death and Public Enemy No 1 are so direct they just kinda passed by without leaving much of an impression. Straight forward and while not by any means slow... not ripping either. The pace of both songs doesn't carry a lot of energy, the songs don't seem very creative, and the hooks are minimal. Whose Life is a bit quirkier with almost a bit of that punk influence to thrash, but also keeps relatively the same pace and doesn't really manage to break free as a real quality track either. This is the kinda stuff I'd expect to find in the middle as deep tracks. Acceptable enough, but nowhere near single quality. Not a good way to kick off an album to be sure.
Well, I guess it's time for a bit of track by track as I wait to be interested. From there we head into the track We The People which is a bit slower, but also sounds too similar and fairly one note. By this point I was just feeling a real lack of energy in the music and even having a hard time keeping focused on the album. If the album hasn't hit by track 4... when is it going to?Certainly not with Guns, Drugs & Money which settles into a groove, but not one that really gets the head nodding either and track 5 becomes another miss.
After this we finally find a burner with a good sound to it. Never Dead is a nice, thrashier track with some attitude and finally the band sounds awake with good speedy riffing and drums that add to the energy. Took a hell of a long time to get here, but this is a noteworthy song. New World order follows this up nicely with a little less speed, but some good melodic phrasing in the guitar, a catchy quality to it, and the pickup at the end actually brings Rust to mind a bit. Take No Prisoners specifically and this is most welcome. Starting with Never Dead I really felt like I was listening to a different album and the next track Fast Lane continues to drive the point home. This one has that great attitude infused snarling and a killer guitar sound. This one is a bit more mid-paced, but sounds like it's in the best tradition of Countdown To Extinction. It also does boast a bit of a speed boost at the end and is a solid track. Black Swan follows this with a nice mid-paced energy about it and some cool sounding vocals from Dave that compliment the music well. Just one of those songs that has a good feeling to it.
By this time in the album the turnaround was feeling real for me and Wrecker does nothing to change my mind with it's solid, driving rhythm and some more trademark snarls from Dave. Maybe not as good as the previous 4 but still better than the beginning and perfectly acceptable. Millenium Of The Blind follows this with an interesting feel to it as it sounds somewhere between a semi-ballad and a creeping doom song. Different for sure and pretty decent. Not an album highlight, but a good outside the box sorta song. Next in line is Deadly Nightshade which has a sinister roll to it and is another good track to add to the pile. Finally, closing out the album we have the title track of sorts, 13, which is a bit of a mood track. This one rolls in with a dark and melodic approach that has a good feeling and builds to a bit more of a mid-paced heaviness. A nice addition and a suitable end to Th1rt3en.
Well, that was a whole lot of words and description, but yeah I was invested in this one. Anytime an album like this comes along... an album from a favorite band... my ears are glued. Th1rt3en is not a perfect album as it does have some iffy tracks that come out and stare you in the face immediately. By the middle of the album though I was hearing some really good things. Certainly, this album's highlights state their case in making up for the lows. I can't help but be pleased with the overall experience. The rating just might have been higher if some of this album was trimmed down and/or rethought. 5 so-so tracks kinda hurt the overall experience. I don't really want to start up an album and have to skip to track 6... which is likely what I will often do.
Highlights: Never Dead, New World Order, Fast Lane, Black Swan
Rating - 3.5/5
2. Public Enemy No. 1
3. Whose Life (Is It Anyways?)
4. We The People
5. Guns, Drugs & Money
6. Never Dead
7. New World Order
8. Fast Lane
9. Black Swan
10. Wrecker
11. Millenium Of The Blind
12. Deadly Nightshade
13. 13
Megadeth are both a personal favorite of mine and a band who have been on a roll of late. This is a band that hit the rocks for awhile, but really managed to rebound to find their place in metal again. Between the recent output of The System Has Failed, United Abominations, and Endgame I really didn't have much reason to doubt this. Megadeth have just been making good and have reestablished themselves as a band with some solid, talented members and good songwriting. The door on the members continues to revolve a little bit, but with the backing of Ellefson, Drover, and Broderick there is no reason for complaint right now.
I've gotta say that when I started to listen to Th1rt3en I was underwhelmed from the start though. Sudden Death and Public Enemy No 1 are so direct they just kinda passed by without leaving much of an impression. Straight forward and while not by any means slow... not ripping either. The pace of both songs doesn't carry a lot of energy, the songs don't seem very creative, and the hooks are minimal. Whose Life is a bit quirkier with almost a bit of that punk influence to thrash, but also keeps relatively the same pace and doesn't really manage to break free as a real quality track either. This is the kinda stuff I'd expect to find in the middle as deep tracks. Acceptable enough, but nowhere near single quality. Not a good way to kick off an album to be sure.
Well, I guess it's time for a bit of track by track as I wait to be interested. From there we head into the track We The People which is a bit slower, but also sounds too similar and fairly one note. By this point I was just feeling a real lack of energy in the music and even having a hard time keeping focused on the album. If the album hasn't hit by track 4... when is it going to?Certainly not with Guns, Drugs & Money which settles into a groove, but not one that really gets the head nodding either and track 5 becomes another miss.
After this we finally find a burner with a good sound to it. Never Dead is a nice, thrashier track with some attitude and finally the band sounds awake with good speedy riffing and drums that add to the energy. Took a hell of a long time to get here, but this is a noteworthy song. New World order follows this up nicely with a little less speed, but some good melodic phrasing in the guitar, a catchy quality to it, and the pickup at the end actually brings Rust to mind a bit. Take No Prisoners specifically and this is most welcome. Starting with Never Dead I really felt like I was listening to a different album and the next track Fast Lane continues to drive the point home. This one has that great attitude infused snarling and a killer guitar sound. This one is a bit more mid-paced, but sounds like it's in the best tradition of Countdown To Extinction. It also does boast a bit of a speed boost at the end and is a solid track. Black Swan follows this with a nice mid-paced energy about it and some cool sounding vocals from Dave that compliment the music well. Just one of those songs that has a good feeling to it.
By this time in the album the turnaround was feeling real for me and Wrecker does nothing to change my mind with it's solid, driving rhythm and some more trademark snarls from Dave. Maybe not as good as the previous 4 but still better than the beginning and perfectly acceptable. Millenium Of The Blind follows this with an interesting feel to it as it sounds somewhere between a semi-ballad and a creeping doom song. Different for sure and pretty decent. Not an album highlight, but a good outside the box sorta song. Next in line is Deadly Nightshade which has a sinister roll to it and is another good track to add to the pile. Finally, closing out the album we have the title track of sorts, 13, which is a bit of a mood track. This one rolls in with a dark and melodic approach that has a good feeling and builds to a bit more of a mid-paced heaviness. A nice addition and a suitable end to Th1rt3en.
Well, that was a whole lot of words and description, but yeah I was invested in this one. Anytime an album like this comes along... an album from a favorite band... my ears are glued. Th1rt3en is not a perfect album as it does have some iffy tracks that come out and stare you in the face immediately. By the middle of the album though I was hearing some really good things. Certainly, this album's highlights state their case in making up for the lows. I can't help but be pleased with the overall experience. The rating just might have been higher if some of this album was trimmed down and/or rethought. 5 so-so tracks kinda hurt the overall experience. I don't really want to start up an album and have to skip to track 6... which is likely what I will often do.
Highlights: Never Dead, New World Order, Fast Lane, Black Swan
Rating - 3.5/5
No comments:
Post a Comment