Metal Night on the Headphones

A friend loaned me his CD copy of Volcano by black metal band Satyricon. I was suitably impressed. I can appreciate raspy vocals like this far better than the cookie monster growling of other extreme metal bands. The thundering double bass drums are oppressive, and the wall-of-sound guitars are super-heavy and wild. Dark and aggressive, this is cool stuff... and that third track, Fuel For Hatred, is one helluva rocking tune. 

Then I popped over to YouTube to sample some tracks from some of the more recent Megadeth albums, like Cryptic Writings, Risk, and The World Needs a Hero. I've been remiss about keeping abreast of Dave Mustaine's music for a while now, so it's high time I caught up and decided what albums I'd like to add to my collection. Youthanasia (1994), a disc both melodic and heavy, was the last one I bought. Yeah, guilty as charged. But it is easily to live in a time warp, listening to the oldies all the time, especially when it seems nothing very interesting is being released anymore. Guess I was wrong. 

From what I understand, 2009's Endgame is a great return to form by this legendary thrash band. Mustaine has been the constant in Megadeth, writing music and lyrics, singing and playing guitar, though he's changed supporting personnel frequently. It sounds to me like Dave's found a solid line-up to keep this mega-band moving forward. 

And right now, I'm blasting Megadeth's brand new album, Dystopia on the headphones. Good gravy, this is heavy brilliance that I really did not expect! These songs have a feel that would make them right at home on the 1990 thrash epic, Rust in Peace (my personal fave from Megadave). I'm halfway through the album here and so far there isn't a bad song. Super bottom end on the powerful drums and beefy, melodic bass, crazed guitar riffs and solos, and of course, Mustaine's signature vocal sneer. The man is in top form here, sounding as good as ever, and his current band line-up is firing on all cylinders. Slick, massive production gives a punch that threatens to wilt your eardrums. 

Metal heaven!