Big 4 of thrash metal veterans Megadeth return with their thirteenth, and oh so cleverly titled new album “Thi1rt3en.” Stupid titles and Megadeth past history aside, this is indeed the bands thirteenth album, which means five more than contemporaries Metallica, who seem to just unleash new albums nowadays that will disappoint diehard fans. But that’s not the point here. The point is that this is a fucking Megadeth album and the first one since “The World Needs a Hero” to feature long-time ‘Deth bassist and friend of Dave Mustaine, well, they have patching things up, and that would of course be Dave Ellefson! Let’s jump right into this fucking Megadeth pit!
The album starts off with the blistering “Sudden Death” which of course was featured in Guitar Hero and Mustaine made it hard, fast, and brutal just for that reason. Let’s gloss over that and jump into the rest of the album. The past two Megadeth albums have been faster paced and more on the speed metal side of things. Not to say you can’t find that on this album, but it’s much less prevalent. Dave and the boys have focused more on the groove and melodic aspects of the thrash spectrum and it is fucking amazing. Songs like “Public Enemy No. 1” “Whose Life(Is It Anyways?)” and “Gun, Drugs, and Money” instantly get you hooked with powerful guitar riffs from Mustaine and Broderick over the pounding bass and drums of Ellefson and Drover. Meanwhile “Never Dead” and “Black Swan” are just as fast and heavy as anything you could want from Megadeth.
Let’s not forget that Dave Mustaine is still the vocalist for the band. And who the fuck could you forget that? He is also the lead guitarist a long with Chris Broderick. Broderick seems to have sparked some life into Mustaine because the guitars solos are a plenty on this album. Not to mention they are pretty fucking good. Not to mention the lyrical content is more of the same of the same from Mustaine. He hates the system, the world, and all things going on in and around it. DAVE MUSTAINE FOR PRESIDENT clearly rings a bell. One of my favorite songs though is “Wrecker.” Mustaine basically tells us no matter what we do, we will wreck it.
It’s interesting to note that “New World Order” was written as late as 1991 and featured as demos on Both “Countdown to Extinction” and “Youthanasia.” Another song that was a demo for “Youthanasia” was “Millennium of the Blind”, and “Deadly Nightshade” could have been as old as “Youthanasia” as well.
Rating: 7.5/10
It’s not one of the best albums from Megadeth; but it has a shitload of catchy songs that are sure to be fun live and keep the fans happy.
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