Ozzy "Black Rain" and Megadeth "United Abominations" Cd Reviews
Classic metal albums or metal bands way past their prime? The last time either band had a truly great metal album was "No More Tears" for Ozzy and "Rust in Peace" for Megadeth. They have had a handful of solid albums such as Countdown To Extinction, Youthanasia for Megadeth and Ozzmosis, Down to Earth for Ozzy but nothing the caliber of their older material. Megadeth has come a lot closer to achieving this than Ozzy has.
Black Rain is just plain disappointing. Weak riffs, song arrangements and even the solos are substandard. The only great thing I can say is Ozzy's vocals are still strong and cool as ever but unfortunately thats not enough to save this album. Over the past few albums ballads have been his strong suit and even those are subpar this time around. By far the single "I Dont Wanna Stop" is the best song and even it reeks of commercialism. Songs such as "The Almighty Dollar" and "Civilize the Universe" are some of his worst ever. Ozzy claims "I Dont Wanna Stop" but lets hope he's referring to touring and playing classic songs instead of making poo nuggets like this album. I give it a 4.0 out of 10 just for the vocals alone.
Megadeth on the other hand is not quite back to their glory days and im sure they will never write another true masterpiece but this is a huge step forward musically at least. Does it have cool riffs? Check. Great distortion? Check. Cool guitar solos? Double Check. Normally I dont pay attention to lyrics especially in metal where its harder to hear but I could easily see them getting on peoples nerves since at least half of the album is political in nature. Some highlights include the album opener "Sleepwalker" with some catchy fast grooves, "Gears of War" which is bad ass like the game and "Amerikhastan" with some wicked solos and grooves. There's even a line that says "Jihad Joe were coming to get you" that had me smiling. Theres even a remake of a "A Tout Le Monde" that is a little faster and features vocals from Lacuna Coil's Cristina Scabbia that im sure will impress people even though i still prefer the original song from "Youthanasia" album.
While this album is nowhere to being a classic as "Rust In Peace" its definitely a huge step forward and Im enjoying it quite a bit. Did i mention the solos by new guitarist Glen Drover kick all kind of ass? One other thing of note is either im super used to Dave Mustaine's growl or it seems its more blended better in the mix and not as upfront as other albums. Any fan of Megadeth or this style of groove/speed metal I would definitely give this album a try. On a scale of 1-10 I give it a solid 8.0
Classic Megadeth.....one of the best thrash songs ever!!!