Megadeth New Album Announced – Dystopia

New Track – “Fatal Illusion”

New Megadeth hit today. After listening about fifty times, I still can’t quite say that it’s a memorable effort.

I’m big into the songwriting process and this particular song just feels like a bunch of riffs stitched together. The intro seems unnecessarily long and doesn’t really build to anything.

As metal legends age, they seem to lose the one thing that made them legendary – creative songwriting.

The raw skill and talent is there, but the creative well always seems to run dry.

This track is also the first effort from the latest Megadeth mercenary crew,  Kiko Loureiro and Chris Adler. I don’t hear anything so far that really separates Kiko from Broderick. It’s extremely early to even make a comparison, but I was hoping to hear something unique and distinct about Kiko’s playing on this track. Long way to go though…

Love the bass noodle by Ellefson at 00:57. Should have come back to it again or used it for a build up later in the song.

Adler puts on a nice performance here but he can only do so much. The beat “fits” sure, but the song overall isn’t that great so to me the constant double-bass hammering begins to thin the song out.

I saw Marty Friedman play a few weeks ago and man it was incredible. His playing is so incredibly unique and soulful. When Dave discovered him back in the day, it was a total miracle.

The marriage of Mustaine’s riff-lording with Marty’s lead creativity is what made it so powerful.

When he left the band, Megadeth truly lost a piece of its soul.

I will say that Al Pitrelli might be my second favorite Megadeth lead player. I love songs like “Disconnect” because he adds a feel that is so distinct that it burns into your memory.

Didn’t hear it with Kiko on this track.

Verdict

Semi-boring. Lacking a “Kiko” feel. Thrashy but not killer as a complete song.

Grade:  C-