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United Abominations
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Review date: 2008-08-03 Rating: 4 out of 10
I read the rave reviews in the music magazines and fell for the hype. This is a highly disappointing album. Musically it is overly complex and whilst Megadeth have always had this facet to their music, I can't help but feel Mustaine is trying a little too hard these days. The songs are also exceptionally verbose with excessive lyrics being crammed in to ludicrously fast songs.
Having tried to get into the album on several occasions, I have accepted failure and consigned my copy to the 'unlikely to be played again' box. I haven't even bothered to put any of it on my ipod, which when you consider that even St Anger is on there, should speak for itself.
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Reviews
Great Album, but i feel The System Has Failed is better.
Review date: 2008-06-07 Rating: 10 out of 10
This is a great album and a great introduction to new megadeth fans. The album has a great opener Sleepwalker i think everyone agrees that that song kicks ass and is a perfect opener to this album, Washington is Next is a great song and has a solo, Never Walk Alone is brilliant great riffs and solos, the title tracks is brilliant the intro to it sounds excactly like Anthraxs song Among The Living cool drum intro to, Gears of War is awesome i love the riff at the start great song, BLESSED ARE THE DEAD is my favourite song on this album the lyrics are brilliant the music is faultless and mustaine's vocals ae great a perfect metal song, Play for blood average song great solo though, the re-make of A toute le monde is excellent Christina's voice goes really well with this song just as good as the original, Amerikhastan again average song great solo, You're Dead is brilliant & the album closer Burnt Ice is my third favourite song my second being Sleepwalker. I good start to megadeth and megadeth fans should have this already ready. In My opinion this is a great album with some awesome songs but i think The System Has Failed Is better. Overall Great and a very good place if you're thinking about buying an album of theirs. Megadeth Rock!!!
The true return to form
Review date: 2008-06-04 Rating: 10 out of 10
Ok, you either like Dave Mustaine or you don't. If you do, then you should love this album. It's like a combination of everything that made Megadeth great. There are speedy moments, slower moments, plenty of scorching solos and as you would expect from Dave Mustaine, lots of intelligent, relevant and heartfelt lyrics. This is a very honest record. It's not trying to be something it isn't. This is Dave Mustaine back and firing on all cylinders, giving us a genuine, no excuses metal record. We get more thrash for our money this time around, lots of aggression, and you get the feeling that this is Dave Mustaine just letting go, being himself and embracing those true metal roots. This isn't a record made for anybody else. This is Megadeth, that is to say Dave Mustaine and his band, doing what Megadeth wants to do. Standout tracks: the brutal Sleepwalker, Washington Is Next!, Never Walk Alone, United Abominations, You're Dead, Amerikhastan and Burnt Ice, but really, it's all good. There really isn't any filler here, at least as far as i'm concerned. It's an album that fills me with hope for the next 'Deth record, especially given that Chris Broderick is now shredding in the place of Glen Drover (who was excellent on this album, btw). Speaking of musicianship, it certainly hasn't dipped over the years. Mustaine is as good as ever (some would say better) and he sure knows how to pick a talented lineup. The playing on this album is top notch. The wizardry by Andy Sneap is first rate; he really was an excellent choice to 'save' this project. The production isn't too glossy, it isn't too rough, it's nicely in the middle, and the overall sound of the record is the best of any megadeth album in years. Everything comes together really well, and this is a true, 21st century Megadeth record.
Certainly not an Abombination
Review date: 2008-02-14 Rating: 8 out of 10
The troubled release of United Abominations was finally behind us meaning we could all get our hands on our own special editions! Debuting at number twenty three of America's Top Album Chart, this was a long deserved success for the band but I wasn't entirely sure whether this was necessarily a good thing for the purposes of a good thrash record, especially in our current climate of pretend mod-rock and bad R n B. The stickering on the shrink wrap denoting some sort of cover of 'A Tout Le Monde' further made me nervous, nothing derogatory meant against Lacuna Coil's, featured artist Christina Scabia however.
'Sleepwalker' is the first track which saunters in with electro-acoustic guitars over pulsed synths' that are soon taken over by a crazed horseman that is, just as we like him a very angry Dave Mustaine. Layered vocals litter the chorus offering something new for the 'Deth sound and brings a welcome change that adds to the shiny but raw production of this track. The short sharp guitar solo enters on the back of a rabid swarm of buzzing riffs battling it out to the death to be suddenly stopped and taken over again by the revisiting chorus. Segueing straight into the maiden-esque,'Washington is Next' is a triumphant anthem and an ode to Mustaine's secondary passion; his politica spewing out of his angry one-sided snarl. This is track works superbly live if not only for the roaring mid-section and sheer oblivion of the drumming and over ridden harmonies.
Harking back to Rust in Peace, 'Never Walk Alone...A Call to Arms' is a tight little number that buffers on the edge of an insane whispering guitar that hollers above the chunky muddy mire below. This slick's into the title track which eerily opens with Dave radio news which from the inset I had difficulty getting the vibe of. Maybe this was because it is not unlike, 'The System Has Failed' in its' over political lyricization, which I hate to say for me, simply sits like an overweight toddler in a high-chair.
'Gears Of War' cycles into 'Blessed are the Dead'; a real bass driven baby and a homage to 'Mechanix'; the lyrics are tight and the main riff is driven by intricate breaks offering a frenzied mid-section that hovers over an abyss of pounding guitars and beats. Of its four or so minutes duration this has to be one of the best tracks on the album.
'Play for Blood', is a personal favourite merely because this is flavour a la Megadeth 1980's, in its entirety; anger, grit, venom and pure unadulterated acrimony. Next, something wicked this way comes; the re-make! The master-piece that is 'A Tout Le Monde' starts: as the mid chorus kicks in, I wasn't smiling when I thought of him; in fact I was near on the verge of crying! WHY Dave? Now I'm not saying that the very talented Christina Scabia has not sung her heart on this but I just don't see the point of her attendance as her efforts seem to have won her no more than that of an elevated backing singer, surely something she is above? The overall picture of this version of the old favourite turns out to be a strange and almost dare I say Evanescence offering of the song, leaving a rather lack-lustre taste in your metal pallet [may I be flogged by fellow droogs in the abyss of the Ninth Circle for saying a cross word]. Aside from this aberration we move to 'Amerikhastan', which sought to restore my emotions from sheer depression and confusion to that of antagonism and vexation. The contorted guitar duel in this track entangles with melee of the uber-politics that whines away over Liberty herself.
The descendant melody of 'You're Dead' spirals into disarray with its tortured rhythms and cries of hysteria which canter into a pure thrash pedal that pounds towards you like the headless horseman himself before once again drawing us down to depths of despair ensuring the article of Mustaine's fury knows they are indeed very dead to him. Beautiful.
'Burnt Ice' splutters in through the smoke of blistering guitars which whip-lash like an angry cobra being taunted by a tiger. The heavy pulsing raffage drives into an insane hollering guitar which trips above an ordered bass line below. A running melody takes us towards the turbulent mid-section that is a complex dance of double-pedal beats that accompany an incredibly fast solo that spars nonchalantly with the driving riffage head-on and wins hands-down; A neat and tidy end to wonderfully decadent thrash album.
United Abomination's is the definition of a true thrash record in its entirety [bar one re-make we need not mention again, ahem]; pure, intelligent and political. If you are looking for let-up between songs you won't find that here. The production oozes class and definition and carves out its' own uniqueness that is undoubtedly Megadeth. The albums ease of transference to the big stage was in no doubt at time of writing. According to the US chart position maybe the phoenix is rising from the underground? Let's hope...
© MSA 2007
Not up to Megadeth's high standard
Review date: 2008-01-31 Rating: 4 out of 10
Megadeth are one of my favourite bands of all time and all their albums from Killing is my business up until Risk I really like and listen to regularly. I like some of their more melodic moments on Youthanasia, Cryptic Writings and Risk as well as the thrash on the first four albums.
So when I heard Gears of war and Sleepwalker a few weeks before this was released and thought this was going to be an improvement on The system has failed.
I was wrong - those two songs along with Washington is next are the only good songs on here.....
The band sound tired and the riffs plod along for the most part with uninspired riffing and Mustaine using more spoken word vocals than singing in a lot of songs. In some ways this sounds like a continuation of The world needs a hero.
The System has failed featured some really good songs by comparison
Product Details/Specifications
Artist(s):
Megadeth
Recording label: Roadrunner
Manufacturer: Roadrunner
EAN: 0016861802929
Binding: Audio CD
Release date: 2007-05-14
Universal product code (UPC): 016861802929
Number of discs: 1
Disc 1 Tracks:
1. Sleepwalker
2. Washington is Next!
3. Never Walk Alone...A Call to Arms
4. United Abominations
5. Gears of War
6. Blessed Be The Dead
7. Play for Blood
8. A Tout Le Monde (Set Me Free)
9. Amerikhastan
10. You're Dead
11. Burnt Ice
Publishers: Roadrunner