Megadeth - The System Has Failed REVIEW
Megadeth - The System Has Failed: D+
I think I had envisioned in some hopeful way that I would do this as part of a three part review of three metal albums that all came out reasonably within the same time frame -- so much for wishful thinking in the presence of procrastination supreme
Not providing excuses or anything, but coming off what was characterized as a career NO CAN PLAY EVER FOREVER injury, finding JC, getting the alkylism under control, not wanting to reunite with the classic lineup of MD, and of course appearing in SKOM reconciling with Lars ... and of course, the first MD album without Dave Jr.
Could these be the reasons for the mixed effort on the latest effort from MD?
It certainly is not as "risky" as RISK -- it does not really fit well in the post RUST efforts
It has the reversed-Holy Wars sounding "Kick The Chair" which is pretty straightforward and rocking -- it has the really well produced, almost slick "Die Dead Enough" that has received airplay -- perhaps it is the strength of these two songs that keep the CD from being totally unredeemable
The ironic, puzzling, and problematic thing about this album is that the songs are tight, they sound good, every song is well produced, but nothing really jumps out at you and grabs on to you in that good ol' fashioned bang the head that doesn't bang way -- it's just not interesting -- it's not really anything -- it's not thrash, it's not alty, it's not power metal, pop metal, hard rock, prog rock -- yet it has all these elements
The CD has failed (to grab my interest) -- but in fairness, this effort and the remasters are a really positive sign that MD is ready to swing it back into gear, and that to me is a positive