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Megadeth: United Abominations Heavy Metal Roadrunner Records May 15th, 2007
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Review
After a series of rather uneventful Megadeth albums, including a farewell release with The System Has Failed that turned out to not be a bid farewell, we are greeted with the next album in the line of Megadeth's heavy metal albums. United Abominations has some of the heaviest music you'll find in the more recent discography of the band, and that really helps the band out, but, as we've seen lately, heavy and fast paced songs don't always mean they will instantly be good. So, how does this release stack up against it's recent precessors? Well, United Abominations starts off really well, with the heavy as hell "Sleepwalker" that features some fast, nice guitar work, which is followed by the well done "Washington Is Next!", a bit of a slower track that is very catchy with a killer solo and well sung chorus, even if the lyrics to it seem a little childish. "Never Walk Alone... A Call To Arms" is another slower track but really stands out thanks to the catchy music and how the chorus is performed. But it's when you hit the slower track "United Abominations", which utilizes one hell of a long winded ranting audio clip, that the album starts to sound exactly what you would expect given the band's recent track record: songs that aren't necessarily bad, but just come off rather bland, at least until "Amerikhastan", which starts out rocky but ends on a very solid note, and sadly being the last really good track on the album. There are two interesting aspects about this album. The first is the inclusion of the track "Gears Of War", which wound up being released to promote the X-Box 360 exclusive game of the same title. For what it is, it's not bad, but the chorus is where the song really stands out, as the choppy vocal performance really does leave more to be desired, even if the music, itself, follows the same choppy pattern. The second is the inclusion of a re-recording of the band's own single "À Tout Le Monde (Set Me Free)", which, though is a nicely done recording that is catchy and features an exceptional performance by Christina Scabbia (of Lacuna Coil fame), just really doesn't fit in with the album and just seems like it was tacked on to extend the length of the album. While United Abominations starts off with promises of intense guitar work and excellent songs that you can listen to over and over, the rest of the album doesn't really hold up. Not to mention there is a cover of a song the band did ages ago that serves no point on this release other then to have eye candy Christina Scabbie collaborate. By the time you pass "Gears Of War", you'll notice that much of the album you've heard before, or just doesn't really have that much of a bite, utilizing complex solos throughout, until the very last solo on "Burnt Ice" which will blow you away. All in all, it's a decent album, and much better then The System Has Failed, but the band still needs more work, or to concentrate on writing more tracks like the first three here.
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