United Abominations - Megadeth

[jhanse]

The year 2007 saw the birth of a brand new Megadeth record, one that I've been waiting for a long long time. And I must say, the waiting paid itself off. Some songs are weaker than the others but a true Megadeth fan will like 'em all.

First of all I'd like to comment on the sound. It's kick-ass! Andy Sneap really did a great job with it. I believe he did the mastering too. I must say this album is showcases one of the best thrash metal productions in say 15 years. It just blows you away. Now, I know the sound is modern and very very hot, but it really helps the whole record, with its sheer energy and power.

The playing on the album shows the real technical skills of the band members, because it's really on the level. Fast riffs, jaw-dropping solos, "not 4/4" beats and fun melodic bass lines. The songwriting would get a 50/50 from me. Some songs are totally "new" Megadeth, some however tend to return back to the lyrical themes of the 80s.

Well, all in all, I'd give this album a good 9 out of 10.

It definitely deserves a listening or 12. Especially if you're into thrash metal!

Cheers
Jan

[extremegreen44]

Love megadeth!

[brandondrury]

The songwriting would get a 50/50 from me.

Well, that's about a 40% improvement! (in my opinion).

I could never fully get into Megadeth. I always kind of thought of them as the genuis that works at the video store. They could essentially invent time travel, but instead they clean the "Be Kind, Please Rewind" sign daily.

I got into Cryptic Writings quite a bit because it was more songy. There "heavier" stuff just never made me want to dive through a brick wall like Damage Inc (Metallica) or Die By The Sword (Slayer).

I'll give this one a try and see what happens. Maybe they'll at least kind of invent time travel.

Brandon

[brandondrury]

I gave it a listen.

It didn't do anything for me, unfortunately. I wish it did.

This album, like most megadeth albums, was mixed to sound "safe". (To hear "unsafe" mixing, check out Slayer's "Diabolus In Musica") The mixing just feels like what I would expect to hear on an Avril Lavign record. Dave Mustaine's vocals are pretty damn loud too, in my opinion. Again, good for pop music, not what I would do for metal. Of course, I've never really been one to want to hear more of Dave Mustaine's voice, but this is just a personal preference.

This album does remind me of more of their older, pre Dan Huff productions. Ironically, I thought Megadeth was a little more "edgy" when they were doing the radio rock thing. I guess it's one of the rebelling from rebelion paradox's.

Oh well. At least you like it.

Brandon

[jhanse]

Yeah, I guess it depends on the taste.

If you're talking about good metal productions I'd say one of the best was Reign In Blood by Slayer, when Rubin started with them. Great sound!

[brandondrury]

Reign In Blood is a very "RAW" sounding recording, which I think really works well for Slayer. There very early stuff was too reverbed out and what not...especially on the vocal. Reign In Blood is when Slayer came into their own both in terms of themselves as a band and as well as production....which is probably more important for metal than any other genre.

I really hate the "more smooth" sounding metal records. I always liked the sound of Countdown To Extinction. If I crank up Syphony of Destruction in my car, those guitars hurt just a little bit. While I have said that pain is a bad thing in many of my articles, in this particular case, it works. I like the harshness of the production. It makes that whole album work much better.

Brandon

[jhanse]

Of course, but I guess they wanted to make this new album more "current", mainstreamish

I totally agree about Slayer.

And about Megadeth's production, it was great up until Countdown. I especially like the sound on So Far, So Good, So What! It's really more raw than anything else.

[brandondrury]

Of course, but I guess they wanted to make this new album more "current", mainstreamish

What good does it do to mix a mainstream way when they've obviously made a record that is not mainstream in it's songwriting or style. I don't expect Evansblue fans to be rushing out to buy the new Megadeth album. Cryptic Writings was a radio friendly rock / metal hybrid and I thought it's sound matched it's songwriting. The new album is obviously more like the old Megadeth style. While not my preference, I can respect them going back to their roots.

However, if you ask me, they mixed this "metal" record like a bunch of pussies. That's just my opinion of course. It's not like I could make it sound "better"....but I know I could make it sound "meaner".

Maybe the problem is the typical production of modern radio rock bands is quite brutal. Lincoln Park, Breaking Benjamin, and Poppa Roach have some pretty mean sounds even though they are essentially doing pop music. Maybe since the brutality bar has been raised, it makes this Megadeth recording sound relatively tame. Of course, maybe that's what Megadeth wants. I've always thought that almost all of their albums have a "tame" sound to them whem compared to their counterparts. Again just personal preference.

Of course, if I was going to produce a Megadeth record (yeah, that'll happen!) I'd want it to sound like complete evil insanity....a lot more like Dragonforce after their wives were raped and their children slaughtered. If Megadeth would do that, it could quite possibly be the best album of all time. I can think of few bands with the tools to pull THAT off.

Brandon

[jdaug]

IMHO the best Megadeth albums were countdown and rust in peace. marty and dave were at their most technical then. i never really liked daves tone though. his solos are so weak i wish they wouldnt let him solo. marty is freaking awesome even though hes not the fastest player out there. he just has great articulation that makes him sound faster than he is. does marty play on the new one? if so its worth a listen for me.

interesting how you consider breaking benjamin's guitar sound mean or brutal. i never thought of them that way because their music is not really brutal in its lyrics and content, even though the guitar tone itself might be (wouldnt know, not a big fan). how would you consider a tone like children of bodom from the follow the reaper album (if you are familiar with that one). the first time i heard that album it was hard to listen to because the tone was so raw. now its one of my favorite. thats my definition of brutal as far as guitars go.

[jhanse]

I don't know about raw guitar sounds. I mean, if I'm making a more metal-ish song and I record it (we did that a while ago), the sound wasn't raw to the bone, but it wasn't too smooth either. I think the time of raw dirty guitars is through. I don't know if you per se consider the old Metallica (pre-black) sound raw. I certainly do. Call me soft, but it doesn't get meaner than thrash for me. I just HATE those black or death sounds. It's like killing a unicorn.