Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The end is always inevitable, as greatness is achieved through tireless application to the dedicated cause, so it must pass into the night and be replaced in time by those who were caught in the tornado of what was, and their stamp on it. The difference in appreciation is whether you are aware of the line that must be crossed and whether you make those that laud and follow you of the decision so they are prepared, or perhaps just leave them hanging in forlorn hope of news that will never appear.
For Megadeth, for Dave Mustaine, the end, in studio recording times, has been announced, proclaimed to the multitude of the fans of the American thrash metal band and the transition has begun without the fear of what may happen next; yes there will be a void to fill, there will be a mourning, but there is a brand new album in which to explore, to see maybe just how the man who has been its lead since its foundation sees the moment for himself.
When a band or artist announces their farewell, it feels only right to relive what came before so that you can immerse yourself into a state of investigation of the strengths and weaknesses which brought them to the halt in the line; and by doing so understand the finale so much better.
Megadeth, the final album, does not have the immediacy and power of say Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying, Rust In Peace, Countdown To Extinction, or even The Sick, The Dying…And The Dead! but musically it is undoubtedly the most emotional, the most vulnerable, and the fiercest exposure of a life on stage to have come from the metal genre. It is in essence the album the fans needed to hear to understand what happens when the end comes.
An album of sentiment, of truths, of ideals, of force, and all coming to a conclusion with a cover of the track he wrote with Metallica, Ride The Lightning. This is not radical; there is not the anger that fuelled Rust In Peace for example, but it is reflective, accepting, just as emotionally terrifying, just as metal as the listener could ask for, just softer, age acting with leniency, and it deserves its place as the final act in the studio from the band.
Across tracks such as the opener Tipping Point, Hey, God!, Puppet Parade, I Am War, and Let There Be Shred, Dave Mustaine, Teemu Mäntysarri, James LoMenzo, and Dirk Verbeuren create an atmosphere of the artist drama, the memento mori of the living and the justified, and the result is fitting, it is gracious and heartfelt in ways that no other album in their vast discography can touch or empathise with.
A final hurrah, yet there is so much more to come before the true end, before the final breath of one of the true greats of American music.
Ian D. Hall