Megadeth

Youthanasia

A Neglected Metal Masterpeice...

Review Score:

(10/10)
Youthanasia is a classic metal album that is so often neglected and very overlooked. This album came two years after Countdown, which was a letdown coming after Rust in Peace. But Youthanasia is actually a return to form for this great band. This is short, crisp and tight version of Rust. While Rust was produced by Mike Clink (GNR etc), Megadeth switched to more intense Max Norman for this album, the result, a noticeable shift in the tone of Mustain's guitar. The molten riffs that the man creates are best heard in that tone, crunchy, tight and sharp. Also, most of the songs in this album are done in Dropped D tuning instead of the standard E that Megadeth used to prior to this. The result, a doom tone that cannot be missed at the same time sounding very very heavy.

The album kicks in with one of the fastest songs the guys have ever done, Reckoning Day, the topic? Mustain's favorite, i.e., getting even. Hence, he sounds pretty vitriolic (which I love) and even touches a bit of death metal style vocals in some sections. The beauty as always with Mustaine is his incredible sense of melody, which comes in the bridge section of the song with multiple acoustic guitar bits, a 5/5 monster of a song. Train of Consequences, excellent lyrics and an incredible power metalball that keeps rolling and rolling and seamlessly integrates into the intro of the next song, Addicted to Chaos. The brilliance of Nick Menza's drumming is apparent here. This is 94 and 3 years of Black Album and the world calling Ulrich the best metal drummer in the world, well, wakeup people, listen to this album to find out the best metal drummer. Addicted to Chaos is my personal favorite in the album, its neat, never forgettable riff and the beautiful backing guitars and lead of the song make it one of the top 20 best metal songs ever. Megadeth singing in French? Yes, but in parts in this amazing song which is so much better than Nothing Else Matters at the same time not being cheesy. This is A Tout Le Monde. Did Mustaine know that he would be quitting in 7 years? Hell knows, but surely the lyrics portray a sense of premonition on his part. The album gets hotter with Elysian Fields, a place where the dead live, the song is as good as the title is. Check out the mega-yelling mother-of-all metal riffs in Killing Road, mind blowingly wicked stuff only Mustaine could play. Pure metal genius flows into the next song, Blood of Heroes. Family Tree is perhaps a little week compared to other songs but still is quite a decent song. The momentum picks up with the doom-style great number Youthanasia, well mercy killing is not a very happy topic and the riff goes along with it but slowly the song reaches moshpit proportions. I Thought I knew is closely tied with Addicted to be the best song from this CD, a great number which will ring in your ears for a long long time, neat lyrics, excellent guitars, a classic metal song. Black Curtains is pretty descent stuff too but Victory is a tribute to this awesome band. Incorporating all the song tittles of early Megadeth this song is a classic. "Had fingers in his eyes, had needles in his veins, A knife right through his heart, Dave Mustaine is a Victory"...

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