On September 15, 2009, Megadeth released their 12th studio album, "Endgame".
This is the band's first album with guitarist Chris Broderick replacing Glen Drover who left the band in 2008.
The album was produced by legendary producer Andy Sneap and continues the "Back to the roots" approach of "Megadeth" from previous albums, only this time with a more accessible manner. In this way, we get a combination of fast rhythms with powerful and aggressive riffs that we know well from the "Rust In Peace" and "Peace Sells... but Who's Buying" era, along with more accessible and catchy moments reminiscent of the "Countdown to Extinction" one.
Guitarist Chris Broderick brought new life into the band, with amazing guitar work. The collaboration between him and Dave Mustaine is among the best of the band and has probably not been heard since the Marty Friedman era. This is without a doubt the added value of this album over its predecessor "United Abominations", with almost every song featuring a guitar dialogue that at certain moments blends into insane harmony and sometimes develops into a "bloody" duel.
In terms of lyrics there is a lot of variety in the album with songs about politics such as the single "The Right to Go Insane" that refers to the global economic crisis of 2008, a song about a torture device from the Middle Ages called "Head Crusher", the song "44 Minutes" about the shootout that took place in 1997 between bank robbers and police in Los Angeles, "Bite the Hand" which is a protest song against the leaders of the powerful states, "How The Story Ends" about the Chinese general Sun Tzu, and the theme song "Endgame" written about the law enacted by President George Bush follows the 9/11 attack, that allows the administration to detain U.S. citizens for questioning. The album also includes the song "The Hardest Part of Letting Go… Sealed With a Kiss"ת which Dave wrote for his wife.
The album had a relative success in the charts when it reached number nine on the Billboard 200 and number one on the US hard rock album list. The album also received positive reviews from both music critics and colleagues, with even guitarist Slash praising it in an interview with "Metal Hammer". We to think this is an excellent album with one of the best sound and production the band has ever known.
Several months after the album's release, bassist David Ellefson returned to the band after being invited to a jam session following a text message sent to him by drummer Shawn Drover and a phone call with Dave Mustaine that followed. Ellefson noted that he felt like he had not left the band in the first place and has since been an integral part of the lineup. A video clip for the song "The Right to Go Insane" included a brief first appearance by Ellefson as part of the band. See here:
The album opens up with the instrumental track "Dialectic Chaos" which is without a doubt a statement of intent from the band. Immediately after that comes "This Day We Fight!" Influenced by the "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and simply shattering our bones. The two tracks were played together in the band's live shows and immediately invited the comparison to the two tracks "Into the Lungs of Hell" and "Set the World Afire" from the album "So Far, So Good... So What!" From 1988. This "cruel" statement of intent undoubtedly affects the rest of the songs on the album, which is a very powerful album with strong riffs, "bloody" solo battles between Dave and his new co-pilot Chris and of course a phenomenal sound attributed among others to the wonderful work done by Andy Sneap.
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music