I Noticed A New Anthrax Song Today, Oh Boy

 And it reminded me...I haven't reviewed the last-ever Megadeth album yet. 

 

MEGADETH

1/23/2006

 

After 43 years, Dave Mustaine decided full-length #17 would be the final one. The legacy of Megadeth is "The Band That Wasn't Metallica," thanks in large part to Mustaine himself. No matter the millions sold, no matter the musicians influenced, no matter the listeners impressed, no matter the awards garnered, Dave could not shut up about the pain of being thrown on/under the bus by James and Lars. 

So of course the last song on their last album is a Metallica classic. 

"Tipping Point"--The first song is the first single is the best song, in my estimation. There's enough snarl and shred here to impress both types of rabid pit. New guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari is a complementary addition, and drummer Dirk Verbeuren is much better than the mix wants us to believe. 

"I Don't Care"--A diss track to anyone, much less a jerk-o perv-o former bandmate, lives and dies by the lyrics. It doesn't have to be "Not Like Us," but it shouldn't be whatever the title was of Chingy's diss track to Nelly. Dave's words here are insipid, and the band's reassurances only slightly less so.

"Hey God?!"--I guess it don't mean a thang if it ain't got that interrobang. (Hey Dave, does your house always smell like burnt waffles?!) Staying snotty and young with the music is beautiful. With the music.

"Let There Be Shred"--Couldn't be a farewell without one last direct ode to a life lived metal. A little of this goes a long way, but why would I only want a little of it?!

"Puppet Parade"--Millionaire cosplays as working man. Next.

"Another Bad Day"--The Sour-Lucked Schmuck Chronicles continue. The whiny riffage hearkens back to the band's worst moments. 

"Made To Kill"--The pace picks up, and the edges curl. Thank Jebus. 

"Obey The Call"--Overthrow the government, great idea. Side A thinks so, and Side B thinks so, but Side A thinks Side B is advocating for the ruination of civilization, and Side B thinks Side A is advocating for the civilization of ruination, and that's why the government will never be overthrown. See?

"I Am War"--Yeah, War of 1812.

"The Last Note"--Eh...I get what Dave's aiming for, but he's too self-conscious to ever show bone and thus really make this a devastating listen. 

"Ride The Lightning"--Here we go, the "bonus track," the worst-kept secret in metal music history. Dave doesn't see this as a true cover, considering he co-wrote the thing, but actually a tribute to Metallica. As a result, this is a restrained take, tuned lower and played just a bit faster. There are no chances taken here, and that's really the only thing to hate about it. On its own merits, Megadeth's "Ride The Lightning" is extremely enjoyable. And I actually prefer Dave's vocals here. 

No, the 'Deth didn't go out with a classic. They didn't dive slavishly into the past, or taunt the present, making an album that is serviceable in the main, with sparse moments of evisceration still outnumbering those of enervation.

Why Reflect When You Can Refract?

 

 

There’s something to be said about getting old.

There’s many things to be said about getting old, actually, a glut of things. Sift through long enough, and you’ll discover a diamond. Whether the effort is worth all the agate is entirely up to you.

I am old. I am older than I ever imagined. At age ten, age thirty seemed impossible. The day I turned thirty, I sat with my mother and siblings in a funeral home. 

This is all very depressing. No one should type through tears. And what a woman staring fifty in the creepy peepers has to say about aging is nowhere near as probably interesting, as potentially enriching, as what a woman sauntering down decade seven has to say. 

Especially when that woman is Kim Gordon.

People marvel over Kim Gordon at her advanced age making such audacious, challenging (call it what it is, young) music and leave the scary part unexamined. Which is how it probably should be. I won’t be the one to tear the tarp off the beating heart. It’s not my tender spot to expose. 

“Joyous” is one word of the many Kim Gordon has used to describe the songs on “Play Me,” the diamond descriptor. (“Jagged” and “glitch-y” are fine, if flourite.) And when I set aside a half hour to listen—which I’ve done three times in the past two days—the insect-ridden noise-hop party does indeed leave me feeling cheerier. The breezy horn sample in the title track, the plucked feathers of “Dirty Tech,” the phases of abrasion, the realization that Kim Gordon is the girl with the look and the hook…it’s all good, except the parts that are great. 

Play Me, like No Home Record and The Collective before it, is so much more than off-kilter speak-sing over trip-trap beats. Her vocal performance, for example, is better here than it's been in years. But it’s like Marvin Gaye’s cousin said: “The dumb are mostly intrigued by the drum.”

(Dave Grohl plays drums on “Busy Bee.” He’s getting old too.)