A few months after the release of TWNAH, Dave ended up suffering a bizarre neurological injury after sleeping with his left arm in a weird position. His radial neuropathy diagnosis had his left arm completely out of commission, rendering him unable to play the guitar for an extended period of time. This setback, compounded with Megadeth's underwhelming recent material and Dave's relapse scare (which indirectly caused the injury in the first place), caused him to disband the group in ... read more

I just realized that Poppy is dropping on the same day as Megadeth, so might as well run down her discography as well.

This debut EP dropped in the middle of her youtube career as That Poppy, and it's just a collection of 4 mediocre 'department store' type pop tunes. For someone with no previous experience in the industry, I'd say this is pretty high quality on the production side, but it just isn't very memorable. An acceptable start, but she can do a lot better.

After Marty's departure, Dave would bring on journeyman guitarist Al Pitrelli for what would prove to be his only record with the band, one that was supposed to be a return to Megadeth's thrashy roots. Unfortunately, 2001's The World Needs a Hero would prove to be yet another extremely underwhelming album, although not nearly as bad as Risk.

Things start on the wrong foot with the opener 'Disconnect', which is basically just a shitty copy of 'Trust'. The ... read more

Up to this point, I've been higher on every Megadeth album than most, at least here on AOTY. But there's really no excuses for Risk. This is absolute bottom-of-the-barrel music from beginning to end.

Look, 'Insomnia' is actually a pretty great track with an infectious hook and a floaty, 80s clubhouse type aesthetic that's quite compelling. But after that, all you get is an overly long compilation of awful butt-rock songs that all make you want to rip your ears off. ... read more

1997's Cryptic Writings is the band's first real slump in quality, in my opinion. The inconsistencies present on Youthanasia, while definitely notable, were still excusable, since even the weaker tunes on the project were decent still. Unfortunately, CW is where the real mediocrity starts to pop up, and AOTY seems to have identified the tracks in question quite well.

This is definitely a straight up Hard Rock album with some metallic songs and undertones. This new style presents a ... read more

Although Countdown is my favorite 90s Deth project, Youthanasia comes pretty darn close. It's really a tale of two halves for me, as the first six songs deliver an incredibly polished, well-developed and accessible Heavy Metal sound. 'Reckoning Day', 'Addicted to Chaos' (my personal fave), and 'The Killing Road bring the characteristic grungy edginess of this era of the band, while the likes of 'Train of Consequences', 'À Tout le Monde' ... read more

It was impossible for Megadeth to follow up RiP with something better or even of the same level, but even so, the band's next release, Countdown to Extinction, brought some additional controversy to the table. Most likely inspired by the stratospheric success of Metallica's 1991 self-titled album, Dave decided that it was time for Megadeth to follow their rivals down a path towards a more accessible, less thrashy sonical identity. Ultimately, CTE ended up coming out as a ... read more

Better than their scene stuff, but that's not a hard thing to accomplish. I hear some Trivium influence in the songwriting, hooks etc. and that's pretty nice. Still kinda mid tho.

Imagine thinking Metallica has sum on this 😂

Its a bit hard to explain what makes this the best album I've ever listened to. Your average 'hardcore' music fan, when faced with this question, will typically gesture towards some boundary pushing, multi-faceted sonical experience that changed their personal outlook on music and life as a whole... but the thing with Rust in Peace is just that it has all the best riffs that you'll ever find in Thrash Metal, but also in Metal as a whole, and also in music as a whole, and at ... read more

Although Peace Sells was an amazing record, the years around and after the release of Deth's second album were mired by conflict and tension within the band, caused in large part by drug issues that plagued all of the band's members during that time (Junior less so, seemingly). The ensuing fallout was resolved by the firing of both Gar and Chris, who were quickly replaced by Chuck Behler and Jeff Young, respectively. By the time the band managed to reunite in the studio to begin ... read more

As with most of their contemporaries in the Thrash scene, Megadeth saw a big 'sophomore jump' with 1986's Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?

Keeping the same lineup as their debut, the band upped their game on every single front. The production went from being inconsistent and a bit scuffed to sounding absolutely perfect for their style. Dave's vocals are still Mickey-like, but his range is heavily expanded, and he sounds a lot more mature and pleasant in general. But ... read more

In preparation for Megadeth's swansong coming out at the end of the month, let's do a rundown of the discography of one of the most important bands in all of Metal, led by the greatest Thrash Metal musician of all time, Mr. Dave Mustaine.

After famously being kicked out of Metallica in early 1983, Dave went down to LA in order to assemble a band of his own, eventually settling on a lineup of him and Chris Poland on guitars, Dave 'Junior' Ellefson on bass, and Gar Samuelson ... read more

ty @aliceunderstars for the rec

Unfortunately, Angel Killer Zero has similar production issues to the Abbie Falls record, but without the same level of songwriting. Everything is constantly 'exploding' and fucking up the mix, to the point where listening to this album sounds like using earbuds outside while a strong wind is blowing, and it gets real annoying, real fast. There are also some incredibly cringe lyrical moments, but they barely damaged my enjoyment compared to the ... read more

tu @breadablefemboy for the rec

some pretty cool Death Metal/Deathgrind, pretty meat and potatoes, but the skits are pretty endearing even if I don't understand what's being said, and the album doesn't overstay its welcome. Solid DIY style release.

Fuck yes man. This is what we need. Fun lyrics, writing is an excellent throwback to their classic Blues-Thrash style of the 80s, and the pacing and riffs are just awesome and never let you get bored all the way through. Pretty sure its the most amount of solos out of any Megadeth track ever (yes, including Hangar).

I liked both singles so far, but this one combines the more relaxed and unserious nature of 'I Don't Care' and 'Tipping Point' with the virtuosity and ... read more

ty @aliceunderstars for the rec

My feelings on this album ended up being a bit more mixed than they should've been, because at face value, this is some nice djenty in-your-face Metalcore, but some issues hold it back for me. Firstly, the tones. The guitars and bass sometimes sound really washed out, to the point where when everything is raging at full intensity, you can barely even make out the instruments being played. This type of production is increasing in popularity nowadays, as ... read more

ty @Phiroman for the rec

I like this guy's style, but this did NOT need to be 23 tracks long. I heard 'BGB drei' so many times inside a 75 minute span that I was losing my mind by the end.

I'd say that this is one of those projects where you put your favorite songs into a separate playlist, but the general structure of the songs are so similar that there may not even be a point.

Overall, some pretty solid Hardcore Hip Hop that's enjoyable while its on, even if my ... read more

ty @Minghas for the rec

This album is cut from the same cloth as Abstract Illusion and the like, and shares all the same issues. For bow many different elements and moving parts at play, surprisingly little actually happens. Sounds like that scuffed era of mid-00s Prog era Angra, where a pupourtedly epic and grandiose record just ends up sounding largely uneventful and meandering. The Progressive elements don't shine like they should, nor do the orchestral/vocal elements, nor do the ... read more

ty @pires for the rec

Just some awesome modern Beatdown. Love all the features, the badass lyricism, the samples and skits, and above all, the riffs that get you moving... I think I like some west coast stuff a bit more, but this is still a great effort from Pain of Truth.