MEGADETH - THE WORLD NEEDS A HERO ALBUM REVIEW

 

Megadeth returns...well kinda sorta 

By DethFanatic, May 26th, 2003

The World Needs A Hero (TWNAH for the rest of this review) was released on a rabid Megadeth fanbase in 2001. Now why were those fans rabid? After the overblown split with Capitol and the release of Risk, many a 'Deth fan salivated at the kind of music a pissed-off Dave Mustaine might conjure up for his next release. Add to that the fact that Marty Friedman had left the band to pursue "softer" music, and the recipe seemed to be set for a bonecrushing return for the Megadeth boys.

This, of course, was not exactly what happened.

First off, every Megadeth fan in existance wanted and expected a rehashing of Rust In Peace. This was not a valid expectation, no matter how many people bitched about Risk and Cryptic Writings. Evolution, people. Progression. Say what you want about the band, they have at least learned to evolve and progress. Back to the album.

TWNAH starts off with Disconnect, a personal favorite reminiscient of Youthanasia's more mellower metal tracks.

Next up is TWNAH the song. Another good one, and a great Megadeth tune in that it makes use of the attitude from one Dave Mustaine. Proof that great songs can be made using simple guitar riffs.

Moto Psycho is #3, and this one is not one of the better ones. Yeah, it sounds like a great bunch of riffage, but there are really only one or two riffs that just get rehashed throughout the entire song. A direct contrast to TWNAH, where that actually worked well. Also, the lyrics and subject matter are a bit silly after the first listen.

1000 Times Goodbye is another example of turning Dave's attitude into song. Not as good as TWNAH again, but much better than Moto Psycho. Yes, more relatively uncomplicated riffwork, but on a whole it fits the song again.

Burning Bridges is next, and this one is not very good. The song would have been perfect on Risk, and that about sums that up! The biggest problem is that Dave's vocals seem a bit forced during the chorus.

Promises is a great song. Maybe not a great Megadeth song, but definitely a great song on its own. The lyrics are moving, the musicianship is excellent, and the song itself is great to listen to.

Recipe For Hate...Warhorse is one of the finest tracks on the album, and one of the best Megadeth tracks since Train Of Consequences. The guitar work in the second half of the song is just superb, and reminiscient of what Megadeth fans had been expecting the whole CD to sound like.

Loosing My Senses is just weird. Forget this song, it just doesn't work.

Dread And The Fugitive Mind. One word: filler. Not a bad song, but we'd heard it already guys.

Silent Scorn is the latest instrumental from Megadeth. Even with the weird horn accompaniment, the song is catchy and great to listen to (and play on guitar!). Megadeth has proven able to write this kind of music, and Dave needs to do mroe of this in the future.

Return To Hangar. At first I thought this was a cheap attempt to get fans of old-school Megadeth to buy the album, but after hearing it I realized that the song was a great piece of work. Had the whole album been composed of songs along the lines or Recipe... and Return To Hangar, this album would have been recieved much better by fans. The lead guitar tradeoffs between Pitrelli and Mustaine are excellent and bring back memories of Rust In Peace's soloing.

When finishes out the album, and is Megadeth's longest song ever (ok, not counting the remix of Symphony!). It starts out alright, although Dave's vocals could have been better here. Once the distortion kicks in life gets a little better. Not too much, because you're distracted from the quality of the song by the obvious nod to Diamond Head's Am I Evil?

All in all, a decent release. For shits and giggles, lets compare TWNAH and Metallica's Load/Re-Load debacle. TWNAH is a decent Megadeth album. This is its strong point; it's clearly recognizable as a Megadeth release. The Loads, on the other hand, great hard rock albums. The difference is that in this case, they aren't good Metallica CDs. On this point Mustaine and Co. score a point, they have maintained their image and "essence" if you will regardless of the iteration of their music that one might hear. Metallica, on the other hand, evolved a little too much.

Summing up, there's a lot of good Megadeth material on this one. The only problem is that there's not a lot of GREAT Megadeth material on this one. However, the one clue that the album wasn't going to be a total load of crap is found in the credits...Dave Mustaine was the sole author for nearly all of the tracks. For thos of you not paying attention, there was at least one co-author on nearly all of Risk's tracks. You do the math.

Track List  :

1. Disconnect

2. The World Needs a Hero

3. Moto Psycho

4. 1000 Times Goodbye

5. Burning Bridges

6. Promises

7. Recipe for Hate...Warhorse

8. Losing My Senses

9. Dread and the Fugitive Mind

10. Silent Scorn

11. Return to Hangar

12. When

***Disclaimer*** 

I do not own any copyright for any of this material!

Copyright belongs to Megadeth and Capitol Recordings! 

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MEGADETH - THE WORLD NEEDS A HERO FULL ALBUM

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