Megadeth, 'Endgame'

Release date: September 15, 2009
Record label: Roadrunner
Official Web site: http://www.megadeth.com/
 
The buzz: Struggles with sobriety, a freakish guitar injury, public battling with ex-bandmates, a newfound religious outlook and a paranoia not far removed from the worst fringe AM radio show—yep, Dave Mustaine has stayed interesting over the last decade, even when his band, Megadeth, has not. “Endgame” is the thrash group’s 12th album—and first one to feel vibrant in a long, long time.
 
The verdict: While not quite on par with the band’s early thrash offerings—or even their more commercial mid-'90s output—“Endgame” finds Megadeth rediscovering some sonic cohesion. Unlike 2007’s “United Abominations,” the group’s twin-guitar assault here adds to, not distracts from, Mustaine’s snarling delusions, and helps give tracks like “This Day We Fight!” and “Head Crusher” a nasty, brutish punch. Meanwhile, “Bodies” and “The Hardest Part of Letting Go” show off a melancholy side never before witnessed in the band, and prove that there may be better days ahead for the thrash world’s most inconsistently good group.
 
Did you know? We’ve interviewed Dave Mustaine before and had little problem—he’s an outgoing, quotable guy. Other journalists are not so lucky—the outspoken frontman recently posted an anti-journalist entry on his MySpace blog (highly recommended reading, FYI), noting that scribes are “music fans too, and then want to be famous too, [so] what started as an innocent desire to bring interesting information to a curious audience is surpassed [by] ego and vanity.”