{"id":11597,"date":"2009-09-09T00:00:07","date_gmt":"2009-09-09T00:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=11597"},"modified":"2013-06-01T15:06:23","modified_gmt":"2013-06-01T15:06:23","slug":"album-review-megadeth-endgame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-megadeth-endgame\/","title":{"rendered":"MEGADETH – Endgame (2009) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

MEGADETH
Endgame<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nRoadrunner (2009)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Die-hard \u2019Deth<\/a> fans have been craving the days of old, a time when Dave Mustaine and whatever merry band of metal merchants he\u2019d assembled thrashed hard and thrashed technical. Some are of the opinion that slowly but surely Megadeth have been finding the feet which made them such a metal titan in the first place.<\/p>\n

For me, the last couple of albums \u2013 The System Has Failed<\/em><\/a> (2004) and United Abominations<\/em><\/a> (2007) \u2013 have been rewarding. Mustaine thankfully hasn\u2019t trodden the same tepid waters which swallowed Metallica many moons ago; the sneering one may be older and less volatile, but his music still shines.<\/p>\n

This time round, Dave Mustaine enlists the services of guitarist Chris Broderick, who\u2019s previously worked with Jag Panzer and Nevermore, while bassist James LoMenzo and drummer Shawn Drover remain in the line-up. As expected the production on Endgame<\/em> is crisp, with Mustaine once again using studio wiz\u2019 Andy Sneap.<\/p>\n

Endgame<\/em> is an 11-track affair that marches into view with opening instrumental \u2018Dialectic Chaos\u2019, a short but technical affair featuring staggering solos and complex structures which melts into the rampant \u2018This Day We Fight!\u2019, with Mustaine sneering: \u201cFor this I was chosen, because I fear nothing\u201d<\/em>. It\u2019s a raging number of classic metal themes, and although lacking the cutting edge of those early-90s classics it\u2019s very much a melodic thrash workout featuring some truly juddering bass lines courtesy of LoMenzo, and with those solos flailing and wailing it\u2019s Megadeth at their most confident.<\/p>\n

In fact, as an album opener, \u2018This Day We Fight!\u2019 can\u2019t be bettered, and the cold steel battering ram continues with apace as \u201844 Minutes\u2019 stirs from its slumber, riffs chugging and that bass rumbling the speakers. It\u2019s another killer Megadeth tune featuring an infectious chorus and a clutch of flesh-ripping solos from Mustaine and Broderick. The fact that Broderick replaced guitar wiz\u2019 Joey Taffola in Jag Panzer speaks a lot for the man\u2019s talent, and Megadeth is the perfect vehicle to showcase such flair.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, we\u2019re treated to the gnarly groove of \u2018Bite The Hand\u2019, the brooding \u2018Bodies\u2019 and the bone-shattering title track, which is about as colossal as Megadeth get. \u2018Endgame\u2019 is a simmering rocker full of the usual Mustaine commentary, once again mocking his country of birth and addressing the effects of the New World Order.<\/p>\n

\u2018Head Crusher\u2019 raises the bar one again, opening with a drum barrage and Mustaine solo; another minor thrash classic for the great man\u2019s legacy. While \u2018How The Story Ends\u2019 is a mid-paced chugger that bleeds into the album closer \u2018The Right To Go Insane\u2019, which has the subtlety of a Sherman tank. Again the guitars are turned up to ten as Mustaine snarls: \u201cI\u2019ve got nothing left to lose but my mind, I\u2019ve got nothing left to choose, so I think I\u2019ll go insane\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Right To Go Insane\u2019 is a fitting end to another monstrous slab of melodic thrash metal, with Mustaine and company clearly showing no signs of resorting back to the timid mid-to-late 90s strains that left me cold. But Endgame<\/em> is far from the climax. In fact, Megadeth have only just begun.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MEGADETHEndgame Roadrunner (2009)Rating: 8\/10 Die-hard \u2019Deth fans have been craving the days of old, a time when Dave Mustaine and whatever merry band of metal merchants he\u2019d assembled thrashed hard and thrashed technical. Some are of the opinion that slowly but surely Megadeth have been finding the feet which made them such a metal titan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-megadeth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11597"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12139,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11597\/revisions\/12139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}