Welcome to the meandering musical insights of Aaron Joy (me!), formerly known as the Roman Midnight Music Blog. Here you'll find nearly 750 reviews of CDs & DVDs of rock & metal in all its variations, mainstream & indie, good & bad, U.S. & foreign. A new review every Monday.

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February 18, 2010

Megadeth ~ Endgame (album review) ... A must have album!


Style: heavy metal, thrash
Label: Roadrunner
Year: 2009
Home: Los Angeles

Members: Dave Mustaine ~ guitars/lead vocals
Chris Broderick ~ guitars/backing vocals
James LoMenzo – bass/backing vocals
Shawn Drover – drums

(Guest Review by Eduardo Morillo)

 

  The latest entry into the Megadeth realm has surpassed my expectations. Being a long time fan, avid follower & musician, I can say this is one of my favorite albums in a long time. Guitarist Chris Broderick is no Pitrelli or Friedman with a guitar that sounds more like a machine gun sending out a barrage of bullets with each song. That being said, Mustaine being the talented guitarist & lyricist that he is, his voice just isn’t what it used to be. The screechy, teeth-grindin', snarly voice that was once pissed at the world is no longer there & it’s noticeable why Mustaine wants to pass the torch. The guitars will have you jizzin’ your pants but the vocals aren’t quite there at times. Endgame opens with an instrumental which shows off Mustaine’s guitar prowess. Whether it’s a guitar battle or a call & response, you can tell that both guitarists abilities complement one another, leading to an all-out, balls-out, stand up & fight anthem. You just wanna bang your head & punch the next person you see in the face. One of my favorite tracks, that influenced me into writing this, was '44 Minutes', only because Mustaine has an uncanny ability to paint a picture with words. First hearing the track, I immediately thought it was a bank robbery, but after a couple more listens I realized that it was about an incident a couple of years back where the state had to make budget cuts & cut back on the police dept.’s equipment, so in short when a bank robbery takes place they were outgunned by bigger weapons. I got a little teary-eyed because it reminded me of a close friend who’s in Iraq now & I can only imagine what it’s like to be in a bloody firefight. Endgame is definitely a throwback to metal but it isn’t for everyone. At times you may even feel like some of the songs are too short. But, nonetheless, off vocals or short songs, this is must have for any metal or Megadeth fan. This is definitely vintage thrash Megadeth but only heavier & maybe even too heavy for some. I’ve never really thought of Megadeth as a thrash band compared to the other bands on the scene today, to me they’ve always sounded closer to Iron Maiden than Slayer, if anything. I look forward to seeing my fellow metalheads when the “Big Four” go on tour later this year!

Guest writer Eduardo Morillo, ex-Lethal Dose, is a hard rock/metal guitarist & saxophone player in NYC, plus a die-hard Megadeth & Kiss fan.

(originally written the Roman Midnight Music newsletter Issue 3, Feb 2010, unedited for blog)

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