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Dave Mustaine has gone as far as to the liner notes in Deths
albums in admitting that the fact that Countdown To Extinction reached
“only” number 2 in the Billboard album charts seriously pissed him
off (even though he was seriously happy for everything else the success brought
him), and that after that he only tried to reach that harder. This frustration
is evident on the follow-up, Youthanasia, in the good and the bad. For
the good part, Mustaines voice is very tight and sounds brutally committed throughout
the record. It suits the well-written tales of moral and political injustices
to an S. But the songwriting on many occasions seems forced and uninspired, as
if the almighty chart hit was too severely in the sights.
Reckoning Day and Train Of Consequenses rip the album open quite effectively with their chuggachugga-riffing while the bit more insignificant rocker Addicted To Chaos runs along without much hooks, despite the grandiose and excellent drum intro. The next tale of pain, A Tout Le Monde, luckily lifts the bar up a few thousand notches, as it absolutely is one of my favourite Megadeth songs. The song writes up a suicide note so melodic and emotional (complete with Friedmans marvellous soloing) that even I cant help but momentarily search for a noose or knives nearby - a magnificent ballad. The self-destructive thoughts wane out when Elysian Fields and The
Killing Road give some spankin-good, a bit more speedy riffing on the record,
that is partially plagued by too slow tempos. Marty Friedman saves a lot on
this album, as his melodic solos give the songs needed colour and feeling. May
the Metal Gods bless his playing, even today when he´s mainly committed
to J-Pop. The production is stellar all around, with extra credit to be given to the
crushing drum sounds of Menza. As a whole, Youthanasia locates itself
in the middle of the Megadeth series by quality. It is by no
means a bad record, but one that has plenty of good and almost equally filler
– a very skilfully made basic record that has its shining moments here
and there. |
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Killing Songs : Reckoning Day, Train Of Consequenses, A Tout Le Monde, Elysian Fields, The Killing Road & The Family Tree |
Aleksie quoted 73 / 100 | |||||||||||||||
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