Tag: Metallica

March 4, 2026 2026 Post a Comment

Megadeth’s Final Album: The End of an Era

It has been, frankly, surreal to behold the reality of seeing Megadeth’s newest, and final self-titled studio album debut at number one on the Billboard 200 chart recently. I realize I’m just jumping right into things here, but consider it with me for a moment… it upheaves and closes the book on one of the longest running narratives within mainstream metal. A story that nearly every metalhead who has been passingly aware of the histories of both Megadeth and Dave Mustaine’s previous band Metallica has known about. Megadeth was always second fiddle, in popularity, sales, and even when they were having their moment in the sun with 1992’s Countdown to Extinction, it could only bow at number two on the Billboard Charts, unlike Metallica scoring their own first number one record a year prior with their self-titled black album. Maybe no one else is thinking this hard about something seemingly trivial like this, but for me, it feels like one part of a fitting send off for Megadeth, if indeed, this is the last album (and Mustaine’s comments in interviews seem like it very much will be). I say this because not only does it grant Mustaine an elusive career long ambition for his band, it does justice to the tenacity of Megadeth fans organizing in a concerted effort to make it happen. Now granted, I was only made aware of this campaign well after the album hit the top of the charts officially, but that’s more my own tardiness showing than a lack of the fan campaign’s efforts at awareness I’m sure.

My history with the band goes back to before I was even a metal fan, because it was via a poster of the cover art for Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying that I got my first impression of heavy metal imagery before I had even heard a single note of thrash metal. I detailed this story in the biographical piece I wrote a long time ago, because it was a singularly catalyzing moment for me, making my younger self aware that such stuff existed. Later on when I was becoming rapidly immersed in hard rock music and buying cassettes myself, it was quietly in my mind that heavy metal was a thing and was just a tiny jump to make. Thanks to a lack of anyone parental paying attention to my purchases, I was able to satisfy that spark of curiosity at what music this band’s provocative artwork was presenting, and a gateway began to be opened. It is an actual fact that I owned a Megadeth album on cassette before owning any Metallica album (that being Countdown to Extinction). Although in truth I had a hard time enjoying it until I got acclimated with Metallica, and went back to the Megadeth album when I learned that Mustaine was a former member thanks to some older metalhead in the neighborhood mentioning it off hand. That slight nudge that got me to go back and revisit that cassette may have been the pivotal moment between being a casual metal fan in passing, and the lifelong devotee that I am today.

Getting into the technicality and abrasiveness of Megadeth became the key to the gateway through which I was able to embrace those qualities in extreme metal, first coming in the way of being introduced to Carcass and Death while watching MTV Headbangers Ball at a friends house who was able to record the show on VHS. After which it was the floodgates opening, Morbid Angel and Sepultura, Obituary and Deicide, whatever I could come across and make copies of from friends’ albums (or copies of copies that they had acquired themselves). By that point I also owned every single Megadeth album up to that point, I was even aware of the release of Youthanasia being advertised at the local Sam Goody with a poster of that surreal artwork at their new release display (sadly they did not give me the poster when I asked). I bought Cryptic Writings the week it came out, and it might have been my most listened to album in 1997 because I was one of those odd ducks who loved the songwriting that their mid-paced, less frenetic approach was inspiring. In the late nineties/early aughts era I was also a frequenter at the message boards over at the band’s official website, Megadeth being early internet adopters and one of the first bands I remember having their own dedicated UBB message board, the Total Anarchy subforum being a goldmine for me regarding recommendations for other metal. In being a fan of Megadeth, I became a bigger fan of metal in general.

So it’s been admittedly a little disheartening to witness, online anyway, the relatively cynical and somewhat muted reaction to this final album on a critical level from metal fans in general. I’ll be the first to admit that on it’s own, I find Megadeth to be a good, while not quite great Deth record. There are parts that are really damn good, my favorite cuts being “Tipping Point” which is vintage Mustaine vitriol in a sharply cut album opener, and I love the recurring riff in “Another Bad Day”, that song harkening to that aforementioned love of the band’s mid-paced approach when its done right (“Hey God?!” also rings the bell in that regard). On the opposite end of the speed dial are absolute bangers in “I Don’t Care” and “Let There Be Shred”, the latter’s nearly cringe inducing lyrics overridden by a really satisfying riff progression. The rest of the album is decent to good, there’s nothing particularly terrible on offer, although the album finale “The Last Note” turned out more clunky than poignant (perhaps better to have gone the Sentenced route and end on an instrumental track but alas). Then there’s the bonus track, this being the Metallica cover of “Ride the Lightning” (I say cover although I know Mustaine was a co-writer on it), which is really the only thing I’ve seen people discuss at length about the album. It’s a great cover, I prefer it to Metallica’s version, but it should’ve been released as a standalone single long before this album came out because its dominated the conversation surrounding this release, and that’s a shame.

Originally I was writing a lengthy career retrospective piece on Megadeth, kinda going over all their albums as my own tribute to their career, but I shelved that a month ago because it was so unfocused and rambling that I was boring myself. Maybe I’ll clean it up and finish it one day when the band stops touring as a final sendoff, but for now I decided that I just wanted to write something short and simple to express my appreciation for the band amidst all the blasé opinions directed towards them and particularly Mustaine lately (maybe I’m not seeing the positive opinions thanks to algorithms, who knows). I’m not going to admonish people for feeling how they feel, but I wonder if most of us have become so jaded that we can’t tip our collective hat to a institution of metal that did a lot for the genre, influenced a ton of musicians we all love, and made some of the genre’s greatest records. Megadeth was a big deal to me as a developing metal fan, and even though I haven’t loved everything they’ve done (The World Needs A Hero might be one of the worst metal records ever), I loved much of their music and it really did shape my direction as a metal fan into all things intricate and abrasive. In beholding their last album, it’s the end of an era, a part of my childhood that’s going to permanently go away, which is a starkly sobering thought as well. So I applaud those Megadeth fans who helped the band get to number one, it was a fitting gesture to a band that meant a lot to likely more people than social media would have us believe.

May 19, 2023 2023, Kamelot, Metallica, reviews Post a Comment

Metallica and Kamelot Return!

Kamelot – The Awakening:

So I was planning to do a rather technical deep dive on this new Kamelot album, titled The Awakening (lets note that this is not in fact a concept album based on the famed Kate Chopin novel of the same name, although that sounds like a promising idea in general for any symphonic metal band), but after spending a considerable amount of time with it over the past few weeks I’ve realized that maybe a blow by blow dissection of this album isn’t what anyone, let alone myself, want or need. I’ll just be up front in saying that this isn’t a masterpiece by any means, but to it’s credit its a step in the right direction after the abysmal affair that was The Shadow Theory in 2018 (but after a five year gap, its certainly not a big enough step). Let’s just do this simply, by breaking down what Kamelot did right here, and what they did wrong (or more accurately have continued to do wrong).

First the positive stuff: Tommy seems increasingly unleashed to maximize his vocal talent and accentuate his strengths, a welcome change from how stifled and constrained his performances felt on the last album. It’s not a coincidence that the best songs here are examples of this in action, in particular the glorious opener “The Great Divide”, as old school power metal as the band have leaned in a long, long time (interestingly enough Jani Liimatainen is one of the co-writers on this tune, which might explain the classicist feel going on that we’ve heard him bring to the table with Cain’s Offering, The Dark Element, and last year’s collab with Tony Kakko). I’ll also single out “Eventide” as one of Tommy’s smoothest verse to chorus transitions, and there’s something irresistible about the ease of his vocal uplift on that soaring hook. Equally impressive for different reasons was his performance on “The Looking Glass”, where he did some different things with his vocals, taking a little more of a theatrical bent here and there that reminded me of the way his predecessor Roy Khan told a story with his intonation and delivery on all those classic songs. To cut to the quick of it, the band sounds way better when they lean towards major key, soaring power metal where Tommy gets to shine and flex his chords a bit.

Kamelot falters however in the same frustrating way they’ve been faltering artistically for the past many albums now (a decent chunk of Haven being an exception), that being their insistence in continuing their edgy, darker musical approach that just seems entirely at odds with Tommy’s entire personality and vocal presence. This stuff worked when it was introduced way the hell back in the Roy Khan era with The Black Halo, because Khan was a convincing vocalist for that particular approach, his voice deep and resonant enough to put genuine grit and gravitas to his vocals and the characters he was inhibiting. Even on the somewhat criticized Ghost Opera and Poetry For the Poisoned, where they continued that style, he was able to craft vocal melodies that made incredibly dramatic magic with his lower registers. At the time it was a refreshing change of pace for power metal at large, with few bands save Tad Morose and a couple others daring to dabble in anything less than polished and shiny Euro-power. However when Khan left, Thomas Youngblood and company stuck with this artistic palette, I’m guessing because it had delivered to the band a more marketable image that they could associate with rather than the regal toned power metal of their Fourth Legacy thru Epica era. We see evidence of this in the maddingly similar music video visual styles they’ve employed over the past decade plus, with one virtually indistinguishable from another. It’s all this edgy futuristic sci-fi goth, post-apocalyptic yawn inducing dreck, and the music of course has to fit that image.

I’ll admit that I had some slight hopes that after going through a five year gap between albums during which we all collectively went through the pandemic, that Kamelot might do an abrupt change, take the chance to shake things up a bit. You’d figure all that time sitting around in dour circumstances would inspire the band to do something else, anything remotely different in style and tone, but I guess not. In Kamelot’s case it really couldn’t hurt to consider the old adage that sometimes one needs to go backwards in order to go forwards. A little of that old school magic could really reinvigorate their sound (I’m talking about a full embrace of it, not just the drips and drabs that they’ve scattered across this album). The faux tough guy hardo act with songs like “One More Flag in the Ground” has never resonated with me, and by this point after a decade plus full of the stuff they’ve spread it so thin it barely has any substance left. The irony is that commercially the band has slipped over the past couple releases in markets like the USA and the UK where that kind of thing is largely aimed at. The chart positions and sales have gotten lower and lower. Kamelot, I’m urging you — embrace romanticism again, reconsider your entire visual approach, crawl out of the darkness and breathe some fresh air again. I suspect there’s quite a few of us who’ll be waiting on the other side.

Metallica – 72 Seasons:

Alright! Twelve years of The Metal Pigeon and my second Metallica album review! It’s a milestone of sorts I’d say, although one loaded with a ton of criticism that I’ve largely already written about at length and won’t reintroduce here anew. Deserving still of criticism is the band’s rate of fire on new music output, it still takes them ages, and I still think that works to their detriment in the grand scheme of things, but I think we’re past the point of no return on that front. Too much time has passed and the band is too set in their way of working (or rather, mostly touring). All that said, I think I had the same vague sense of trepidation with the approach of Metallica’s newest, 72 Seasons, as most veteran metalheads — with a jaded, arms folded stoicism. As far as advance singles go, “Lux Æterna” wasn’t the worst choice that they could’ve put out, though it does sound far more fitting within the context of the album. I’d say the most valid criticism of it as a single is that it was the obvious choice from the tracklist, the shortest, most radio format friendly cut (a mere 3:25 run time), and out there on it’s own it felt a little underwhelming as a preview, whereas on the album sandwiched right in the middle of things, its a blast of excitement when it hits.

Were Metallica truly gutsy, they would’ve picked the album opener title track “72 Seasons” as the lead off single, because not only is it the best song on the album as a whole, but I’d argue it’s the best singular tune the band has delivered since some of the more smoky, deep cuts off 1996s Load. That deep rumbling Trujillo bass intro leading into a rollicking, thrash-tinged sequence is one of the more adrenaline pumping starts to a Metallica album in long memory. I love that Hetfield’s barking vocals here sound like vintage angry Hetfield circa 89-96, deep and booming but with that sharp, slicing bite that gave so much of classic Metallica cuts their visceral, emotional impact. And really, the whole band just slams in this song, Hammett even delivering a rare interesting guitar solo here that works as a minor detour and melodic complement to all the aggression surrounding it. Lars turns in a fiery, well thought out attack caught halfway between groove and solid quasi-thrash pummeling — its not flashy, but it doesn’t have to be and frankly shouldn’t because as is it serves the best interests of this song. I really love this song, and it just bowled me over the first time I put the album on, putting a grin on my face as I drove around pumping my fist to a new Metallica album which was a small joy to realize while it was happening.

The band follows it up with two damn near as convincing gems in “Shadows Follow” and “Screaming Suicide”, creating the band’s best three song opening salvo since Justice (I wasn’t ever wild on “Sad But True” so The Black Album doesn’t qualify for this). Regarding the former, this sometimes flip flops with “72 Seasons” as my favorite cut on the album, there being something really satisfying about Hetfield’s cadence on the vocal lines during the verses, that sharp spittle flying bark and bite attack. His lyrics here are also truly some of his best in ages, for all three of these songs really, but I can’t help but love that line “On I run / still my shadows follow” — it’s such a simple idea thematically, but so eloquently phrased as to create a picture in your mind that most of us can relate to I’d think. Actually I’ll expand on this lyrical discussion by stating that I think this album is Hetfield’s finest batch of lyrics as a collective whole since the Load album (which barring a few songs was a masterwork of lyric writing on Hetfield’s part in my book). Much has been discussed, largely by him, of his personal trials and tribulations that have changed things in his life since Hardwired, and it’s refreshing to hear him approach these subjects in a way that avoids clunkiness, awkward word choice, instead feeling like a direct conduit with his raw emotions.

Things hit speed bumps when we reach “Sleepwalk My Life Away”, “You Must Burn!”, and “Crown of Barbed Wire”, three mid-tempo set plodders that make you eyeball that 1hr 17min runtime and wish that the band had a more vocal editor in the studio during the album sequencing and urged them to leave those for b-sides. The riffs here seem to be aiming for a groove metal adjacent approach, but rather than locking you into said groove, I find myself growing angsty at how plodding they feel, how unfocused and fuzzy everything comes across. Working as a palette cleanser to those middle of the tracklist duds is “Chasing Light” which has one of the most effective, sharpened choruses on the album with a fantastic vocal trade off hook. I also loved “If Darkness Had a Son”, where we get that classic sounding Metallica vocal hook from James, a call and response out of the darkness that is written with precision and maximum earwormy-ness. The album has a strong closing run overall really, “Too Far Gone?” and “Room of Mirrors” are rockin’ songs that have specific parts I find worth coming back for, and I always find myself nodding my head along.

Much has been made of the very Sabbath influenced doom tinged closer “Inamorata”, the album’s lengthiest song clocking in at over eleven minutes, the band’s longest song in their career. I’m giving it semi-high marks because it does present something kinda unique among the album and in Metallica’s career in general, harkening back in a way to their cover of Blue Oyster Cult’s “Astronomy” they did on Garage, Inc all those years ago. As for the length, there is a mid-song bridge dropout where everything comes to a hush, only to build back up into a cascade of rather gorgeously phrased guitar parts that seem like a true interplay between Hetfield and Hammett. It’s not a song I’m losing my mind over, but I did enjoy it and applaud the band hitting a different stride here. Speaking of Hammett… he’s the weak link on this album, because with a few exceptions including “Inamorata”, his solos are so repetitive, full of overpoured wah pedal and seemingly directionless phrasing. He’s come out swinging against the criticism lately but I think it’s warranted — because seriously Kirk, I get that you think it’s a direct line to your emotional gut, but it’s tiresome for everyone else. I’m surprised the band doesn’t suggest he ditch the pedal, if only to offer some sonic variance for the sake of introducing freshness when that guitar solo hits. It’s weird to single out a member for poor performance on a Metallica album and not have it be Lars, but the Dane was absolutely solid this outing. And props to Hetfield on a fine return to form, as much as he can get these days anyway. I was incredibly surprised at how much I enjoyed this.

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