Megadeth - Countdown to Extinction (1992)
It's been well-documented on this site how I feel about Dave Mustaine: love Megadeth's first four albums (and certain songs from their later albums) but I can't stand what their music became in later years (whether it be their inconsistent pop metal, or their mind-bogglingly tepid return to pseudo-thrash); and while I love Dave's Oasis-like egomaniacal douchiness, his right wing, Reborn Christian rantings are just annoying.
Regardless, along with Metallica and Iron Maiden, they were one of the bands that really introduced me to metal. Metallica were my first love, but once I became disillusioned by wannabe-teenage integrity at them for "selling out", Megadeth went from my second favorite band to #1 -- which is ironic considering that they did the exact same thing at exactly the same time. Still, it makes sense since I got into them through their same '90s period that made me drop Metallica like a bad habit.
No matter how I feel about Dave and the boys now, I will always be a mega fan for their place in my childhood. I worshipped the ground they and especially Dave walked on for far too long to ever write them off in my heart of hearts. Even Slayer doesn't evoke the same kind of warm-hearted nostalgia.
These days, however, I couldn't give less of a **** about most of their post-
Rust in Peace material (cause why would you?) and
Countdown to Extinction is where I draw the line. It has the same problems as Metallica's self-titled album which it attempted to ape: boring thrash-lite songs, complemented by legitimately entertaining pop metal that unfortunately gets worse with every listen.
But what separates the two albums is that Metallica were just better at their transition, and James Hetfield's toned down vocals weren't nearly as embarrassing as Dave Mustaine's.
So here I am, giving this album yet another chance to reconvert me (I really did love it when I was 15). It's been... years I guess, since I listened to it in its entirety, so perhaps my feelings will have softened. Since I'm so familiar with this album, I'm going to do this track-by-track as I listen to it.
*Full disclosure: for years my only copy of this album was a burned CD that was corrupted and somehow deleted several of the tracks ("Foreclosure of a Dream", "Countdown to Extinction", and "Sweating Bullets"), so it'll probably be almost like listening to them for the first time.
Let's do this...
1. Skin O' My Teeth: I was well aware that whatever my feelings about this album, this would be one of the songs that still stuck with me. This is pop metal at its finest. The riffs are badass yet fun, Dave's vocals energetic, and there's just a kick-in-the-pants quality that every album opener should have. I'll try to use this as a springboard for listening to this album objectively, but I can't promise anything.
2. Symphony of Destruction: It was either this or "Motopsycho" (the single from their then current album
The World Needs a Hero) that was my introduction to Megadeth, so this song has extra nostalgia for me. Still love it, too. That main riff might be nothing like the technical wizardry of their earlier work, but god damn is it heavy as ****. Two tracks of awesomeness to start this album off, but I know full well that what comes next will be the drop off...
3. Architecture of Aggression: The first of many supremely awful song titles on this album, this was probably the song I loved most after I'd heard the actual best songs on this album way too many times. This is some of that tepid, thrash-lite I was referring to. It's got a pretty catchy chorus if you ignore the cringe-worthy lyrics ("You know your worth when your enemies
praise your architecture of aggression!" blech) and some tasty riffs, but otherwise it's not exactly noteworthy.
4. Foreclosure of a Dream: God damn it, I was not looking forward to rediscovering this song. Even back when I was still a hopeless fanboy I wasn't too broken up when my faulty copy of this album dropped this song. It was Megadeth's first attempt at a ballad -- presumably to copy the success of "The Unforgiven" and "Nothing Else Matters" -- but it's a dull, monumental misstep. Thankfully the band would get things together on the next album with "A Tout Le Monde", but this isn't half as good as that song. It's only real saving grace is a nice riff that pops up when the band can be bothered to stop with the ****ty balladery.
God that title sucks. Almost so bad it's good. Almost.
5. Sweating Bullets: I'm pretty sure I first heard this on an anime music video, and I loved every second of it. Not so much right now. It's alright, a 6/10 song if ever I've heard one, but it's not thrashy enough to be properly badass, and not catchy enough to really grab me. I'm struck by just how goofy Dave's vocals are (even more so than before), but their cheesiness is actually kind of charming. They're pretty much the only truly memorable thing about this. I could only ever love this song as a teenager.
6. This Was My Life: Another one of those poppy, thrash-lite songs. As with so many tracks on this album, the only things of note are a mildly catchy chorus and some moderately cool riffs. And even those are pretty much interchangeable with any other similar songs. Maybe that's the real tragedy of this album: sameness. At least "Sweating Bullets" had some personality. Not too many truly bad songs on this disc, just too many that don't stick out in any way.
7. Countdown to Extinction: I have no real memory of what this song sounded like or how good it was, so I don't know what to expect from this. Kinda sounding like a quasi-ballad, but I don't remember it being nearly as awful as "Foreclosure of a Dream". This is definitely pop metal, but it feels more like the kind of pseudo-hard rock the band would write for
Cryptic Writings. Best chorus since "Symphony of Destruction", but the song as a whole isn't too memorable. At least
Cryptic Writings had some pseudo-hard rock that stuck in your head, but this is just pseudo-filler. I'll give it a pseudo-thumbs up.
8. High Speed Dirt: Hell yes! This song has that same power pop energy as "Skin O' My Teeth", and it's almost as memorable. Just a fun romp that this album is in desperate need of. I don't know if I would even classify this as metal, but who ****ing cares. It just rules.
9. Psychotron: God this song is dumb. As far as I can tell it's a song about a killer cyborg that isn't at all metaphorical. Why Dave thought any of the fans he was trying to court would give a flying **** about the lyrics is beyond me, so it's a minor miracle that it's saved by being one of the heaviest songs on the album (second only to "Symphony of Destruction"). It's definitely not as good, but with the addition of one of the few choruses that rise above simply being "kind of catchy" it's still better than "This Was My Life". I remember loving this song as a kid, and now I remember why. It's not a forgotten classic or anything (the monotonous vocals on the verses drag it down too much for that) but it's still one of the better songs on
Countdown to Extinction.
10. Captive Honour: Until I rediscovered how ****ty "Foreclosure of a Dream" was, this was by far my most hated song on this album. Multiple, overlong, spoken word bits at the beginning make this song drag before it has the chance to even get off the ground, and the fact that it doesn't know if it wants to be a boring ballad or faceless pseudo-thrash just make this song complete garbage. It's one of those songs that is too annoying to even qualify as filler. It just plain sucks.
**** you, Dave. **** you.
11. Ashes in Your Mouth: Yet another lobotomized "thrash" song to cap this album off. It would have been nice for Megadeth to have gone out with a bang to leave a better taste in my mouth, but this is what I get instead. It's certainly not the worst song on
Countdown to Extinction, but it's yet another good-but-not-great song with some decent riffs that could have been switched out with the riffs from any other song without anyone noticing.
Weak sauce, Dave. Weak sauce.
Well, has my opinion changed at all over the years? Not ****ing really. I like the same songs I did back then, I hate the same songs (with the notable addition of "Foreclosure of a Dream"), and my indifference to the rest hasn't changed either. It's been too long for me to really even tell if I like or dislike this album even vaguely more or less than I used to. I honestly don't know how I feel about
Countdown to Extinction: do I kind of like it for not entirely sucking? Do I dislike it for being pretty boring? Do I hate it for being the beginning of the end for one of my most beloved bands of all time? **** if I know. I suppose my indifferent ambivalence is the real verdict.
What the ****, Dave? What the ****?