If Megadeth has more than a passing interest in the nuclear physics, they better take notice. Super Collider has managed to propel them back into irrelevancy faster than the speed of light.
For an album named after the world’s most powerful machine, the record sounds like the musical equivalent of a cheap TV. Occasionally flickering between metal, rock, thrash and even country, it’s hard to get any kind of clear picture of what Dave Mustaine is trying to achieve here.
If you’ve heard the impressive opening track “Kingmaker”, here’s a spoiler for you: the rest of Super Collider is a comparative let down. Megadeth have spent the last few years rebuilding themselves as a no-nonsense, aggressive musical outfit, which makes throwaway songs like “Burn!” and “Off the Edge” such frustrating inclusions.
Then there are the lyrics, which seem to be almost entirely based on awful wordplay e.g. “Forget To Remember”, or nonsensical lyrics such as “His first name’s ‘Ward’, his last name is ‘Of the State'”. It’s hard not to wonder whether Mustaine is running out of ideas, both thematically and musically.
Many fans have already made the comparison between Super Collider and Megadeth’s other catastrophic release – 1998’s Risk. But despite its failings, Risk at least lived up to it’s name. Super Collider, on the other hand, isn’t remotely risky, edgy or different. It’s a bland album full of lazy clichés, boring guitar solos and general arrogance from a frontman who is in danger of falling into a black hole of his own creation.
