81/100, Megadeth finally delivers the goods!
Ever since Megadeth's return after Dave's nerve injury fans have been waiting for a true return to form, well this is probably about as close as they're ever gonna get. If you're expecting nothing but true thrash, you'll end up liking a couple of the songs but will overall be disappointed. However, if you go into just looking for good metal you will be deeply satisfied just like myself. As a hardcore Megadeth fan, I can finally say that I am truly pleased with their new album.
"Dialectic Chaos"-Starts off with a mid paced, simple and catchy rhythm. It pretty much keeps that through the whole song while Dave and Chris trade guitar solos with each other. It really shows off both of their abilities and is surprisingly catchy for an instrumental. Leads right into "This Day We Fight!" making for an awesome one two punch that will knock you out. 9/10
"This Day We Fight!"-Old-school Megadeth through and through. Very thrashy and extremely fast. You can feel some of Dave's old aggression in this song. This song proves that Megadeth is still the true king of thrash, posers beware. 9/10
"44 Minutes"-Simple but catchy main riff with some great vocals on Dave's part. Hints of thrash but the chorus is purely melodic. There's some great soloing as well. 8/10
"1-320"-Great riffing showing off some technical prowess. The drums are a little simple and boring. Very technical soloing at the end makes for a strong finish. 7.5/10
"Bite The Hand"-Good heavy intro riff that leads to an even better technical thrash riff. Those two riffs kinda switch off from there. Lame lyrics, but very solid music. Good duel solos start up around halfway through the song. More solid soloing near the end rounds out another solid track for the album. 7.5/10
"Bodies"-Starts out simple but still heavy and has a melodic chorus. Honestly it gets a little boring until a little past halfway when it goes into guitar solo mode, and that sounds just flat out fantastic. I can hear Chris Broderick's influence heavily here as the latter part could easily be from Nevermore. First half of the song is passable, second half is fantastic. 7.5/10
"Endgame"-The title track for the album and an instant ****c. Stats out mid-paced and very heavy while Dave's vocals sing out over everything. A very progressive song that continuously speeds up and has some great solos. Excellent track. 9/10
"The Hardest Part of Letting Go…Sealed With A Kiss"-Starts off slow and quite frankly beautiful with some symphonic elements. Dave's vocal delivery on this song is amazing, but quite frankly the lyrics themselves are lame. Then the song progresses into heavy mode and gets some seriously great riffing done. When the songs gets heavier it sounds like old-school Megadeth. Excellent song, would be mind blowing if it had better lyrics, although they do get better as the song goes on. 9/10
"Head Crusher"-A big loud wake up call after "The Hardest Part of Letting Go…Sealed With A Kiss". Fast, brutal, and thrashy. Comes across to me as "Sleepwalker 2.0" and that's not in any way a bad thing folks. 9/10
"How The Story Ends"-Interestingly enough despite the title this is not the last song on the album, which makes no sense if you ask me. Sounds very much like a song off of Youthanasia. Probably my least favorite on the album. 6.5/10
"The Right To Go Insane"-Some of the better lyrics on the album. Starts a little boring but gets better as it goes on. Cool riffing at the end with some good soloing. Not the song I would have chosen to end the album on. 7/10
My favorite three songs on the album are "Dialectic Chaos", "This Day We Fight!", and Endgame" with "The Hardest Part of Letting Go…Sealed With A Kiss" as a close runner up. The two songs at the end bring down the average but the album is still amazing. There's something here for every Megadeth fan, and if you don't like some of the song you either don't like Megadeth or you don't like metal, it's as simple as that. If you're a true Megadeth fan go out and buy this right now.