Unpredictability is strong with this one
By Mailman__, May 12th, 2018
As far as Megadeth's albums have been going pretty lately, United Abominations is literally a savior. Every track on here has character, the production is nice, the riffs are thrashy and fun, and the lyrics are bearable.
Let's look at the riffs. When the album started off with "Sleepwalker," I wasn't too thrilled. It's a good song, but this was how The System Has Failed started: a good song followed by 40 minutes of snooze. But once I got past the first four tracks without being completely revulsed, I wasn't too worried for the rest of the album. It's weird how Megadeth does this because it's like every time they release a shitty album, they release a good one afterwards.
One of the singles from this albums was "Washington Is Next." This is probably the best song on here because the vocal structure is actually good and the riffs make sense coming from Megadeth. Yes, finally, a Megadeth song that sounds like Megadeth!
As far as riffs go, this album actually sounds like a Megadeth record. It actually sounds a lot like Dystopia, which is funny because a lyric from "United Abominations" is "the threat is real." Let the conspiracies begin. Anyway, there are plenty of good riffs on here, something that has been quite uncommon in the previous few Megadeth albums. "Never Walk Alone... A Call to Arms" is one example of this. The riffs and leads are all on point, almost sounding like something off of Rust in Peace. "Play for Blood" and the title track are also good examples because of their fun thrash metal riffs that are wonderfully fast. They also both have nice leads.
The lyrics aren't anything new. It's pretty much typical cheesy Megadeth. No, not The System Has Failed or Risk cheesy; this album's "Amerikhastan" cheesy. Or maybe "New Yorqatar." Yes, that's a lyric from track nine. Also, the intro to "United Abominations" sounds like a real newscast, but it's fake, so if you thought it was real, that's unfortunate. If it is real, then that's pretty unethical broadcasting because it's very biased and passive aggressive. Also, it's really lame and edgy.
The production, music, and lyrics are all nicely done. So what don't I like about this album? Well, there's always the pretty obvious option of "A tout le monde (Set Me Free) (feat. Cristina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil). For those who don't know, the original "A tout le monde" was released on the album Youthanasia and it became a pretty big hit (like, big enough that my mom knew about it). Re-releasing it on this album is just Megadeth doing what they've been doing the past three albums - bringing back small elements of their better years into their music, not by making new material, but by copying the old material. It's quite pathetic, really.
Another thing I don't like about this album is the structure. All of the good songs are grouped in the first half of the album. This is something relatively new as on the four albums before this, the good songs were spread out more evenly. That's probably because they knew they were shitty albums so there needed to be something keeping it going so they accomplished that by strategically placing the good tracks among the bad ones. This album starts to get boring around "Gears of War," picks back up, then it disappoints with "A tout le monde." Then the last three tracks are just pretty boring with a good riff every once in a while.
Another thing I hate about this album is the album cover. What the hell? It's almost as bad as Iron Maiden's Dance of Death. It's garbage and it hurts my eyes to look at. It's like the guy who makes art for the Mission Impossible movies discovered Microsoft Paint. Okay, that's a bit of a stretch, but whatever. The point is it sucks.
That's pretty much it. At this point, I can't say I know what Megadeth are going to do next. Their discography up to this point has been all over the place, never staying consistent for more than two albums. Well, at least this one was good.
Track List :
1. Sleepwalker
2. Washington Is Next!
3. Never Walk Alone... A Call to Arms
4. United Abominations
5. Gears of War
6. Blessed Are the Dead
7. Play for Blood
8. À tout le monde (Set Me Free)
9. Amerikhastan
10. You're Dead
11. Burnt Ice
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MEGADETH - UNITED ABOMINATIONS FULL ALBUM
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