Popping in for the weekly update and this time to talk about the
risky left turn that is
Risk (1999).
And to start things off I do feel disappointed, not necessarily just with the album itself but my lack of any strong feeling towards it either way. I was hoping for such a controversial album that most people seem to strongly hate, that I would either have a similar experience where it's at least a classic 'bad' album, or that I would get some sort of 'hallelujah' moment where I would like the album a decent bit and would defend it as this misunderstood album that's really not that bad but not a masterpiece either. But maybe similar to Load by Metallica that I actually like a fair bit despite changing direction, or Sound of White Noise by Anthrax which is also a different direction but an album I like. It's important to note that timing really matters and if I was a Megadeth through the late 80s going into the 90s and I was waiting years for this album - I might be one of those people thinking it's the worst thing ever. Because I'm able to jump from one album to the next from week to week and I listen 4-5 times to each of them and next Monday I have a new one, this was mostly just a 'meh' week where I didn't get that much out of it but I also know I'm moving on soon.
But let's talk about the actual content and not just the circumstances around it.
Insomnia starts the album off in a decent way IMO. The song is a bit of a mixed bag for me because it has the sound of a 90s alternative rock song (giving me some Smashing Pumpkins vibes) which should be more my thing since I love that whole period and genre, but I feel like had they made more of a metal version of this same song, I would have liked it more. It's decent though, probably one of the better songs which isn't necessarily saying much. Prince of Darkness is alright as well, but I can't shake the feeling that it's 6 ½ minutes of ideas we've heard done better before and kinda lacking that edge. But I feel like the more we get into the album the more it loses me. Some of these songs really lack great guitar riffs and sounds like something from the 90s alternative radio except writing more 'radio pop melody' songs isn't really Mustaine's strength IMO. I was kinda enjoying Wanderlust a bit, some parts reminded me of Wanted (Dead or Alive) by Bon Jovi (who I don't necessarily like much) but if I'm looking for any sort of positives on this album I would still say this song would make my top3.
I wish I had more interesting things to say about the album but it's just very 'okay' in my book. I can understand people saying it's bad, I can even understand some people liking it if they are into more of that 80s/90s 'cheesy radio rock' (no offense, best tag I could come up with)
but for me it's just a pretty average listen. I would say the weakest Megadeth album so far. There's 2 or 3 songs here I might revisit but the album as a whole is one of those I might revisit in like 5 years to see if I hear something different, but it won't enter my frequent rotation. For me the biggest problem isn't the change in sound, it's that a lot of these songs just aren't very interesting. Maybe you guys have more interesting stories or thoughts about this album.
Next week I'm doing The World Needs a Hero which I think has some mixed reviews but seems to be a return to metal so that will be interesting.