Review by MartinDavey87 for Megadeth - Endgame (2009)

By 2009, it’d been five years since Megadeth’s “return”, after Dave Mustaine had split the band up and retired following a well-documented injury. Upon their comeback, they unleashed two albums, 2004’s ‘The System Has Failed’ and 2007’s ‘United Abominations’. Both albums were a sure throwback to the bands earlier thrash days, with intense guitar riffs, lyrics full of distain and hatred, spewed out by a voice oozing of political unrest. This was the Megadeth of old!

However, with 2009’s ‘Endgame’, it just feels a tad repetitive already. Like the band are on autopilot and just repeating the previous two albums.

That’s not to say ‘Endgame’ is bad. It’s got its moments. It’s got all the ingredients of classic Megadeth. The playing is insanely fast, and the riffs are as intricate and intense as they were in the ‘Rust in Peace’ days. But after having this on my playlist for what feels like forever, I’m just struggling to really feel like I’d ever come back to any of these songs by choice.

And that may seem harsher than I intend it to, because there are some decent tracks on here, they just don’t, in my opinion, hold up as well to Megadeth’s previous output. ’44 Minutes’, ‘Head Crusher’ and ‘The Hardest Part of Letting Go… Sealed With a Kiss’ are all good tracks, and are worth a listen or two, but personally, I’d rather listen to anything from ‘Cryptic Writings’, ‘Youthanasia’, ‘Rust in Peace’ or even, *gulp*… ‘Risk’.