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Megadeth: Cryptic writings
10/05/07 || The Duff
As much as Megadeth supporters might have been forgiving with the release of “Youthanasia”, it is with this album that the shit really hit the fan (pun intended; I rule), and people decided not to be so lenient with the soft rock direction the band was inclining towards. To be honest, although my taste in metal has somewhat outgrown this release, when it first came out, I was an ardent follower of the ‘Deth squad; as a result, I have yet to fully despise “Cryptic Writings”, even though I can acknowledge with little difficulty its most prominent flaws.
In many respects, this is much like Megadeth’s latest, “The System Has Failed”. It has some kickass songs that display solid song writing and class riffing that show the band speeding things up in comparison to the album that preceded it, yet is also heavily burdened with slow-paced, half-assed material that, simply put, just “ain’t metal enough, Davey”; this album is certainly a farcry from even the albums the band was releasing just a couple of years prior.
Some of the material here can easily be perceived as filler-garbage, and I agree wholeheartedly with those stating that many of the riffs are lifeless. The band is relying for the most part on catchy hooks in the form of verses and choruses, and far less on the well written music that was once the cornerstone to Megadeth’s rising as one of the big four defining thrash bands of the 80s.
Occasionally, Dave and Marty’ll chucking in a (twin) lead or two so as to give the impression that they’re not completely selling their souls to the mass corporate whoring agencies. Of course, the soloing remains inventive and interesting throughout the album; courtesy of Marty Friedman, I’m willing to wager – Dave is just too oblivious to whatever the fuck his fans demand of him, and it all started to become apparent around about here.
Songs like “Mastermind”, with its cosy opening and killer chorus, alongside the thrash excellence of “The Disintegrators”, and to a lesser extent “FFF” (once more, the chorus stealing the show) and “Vortex”, make this release a gem of sorts. Other, less noteworthy songs that still manage to bring something to the table include “Trust”, “Use the Man” and, with a little extra effort, “Sin” and “Have Cool, Will Travel”.
Of course, this is coming from someone who, at the first time of hearing this, was willing to cut off his penis in order to preserve Megadeth’s integrity, so my judgment concerning “Cryptic Writings” may be a little biased even to this day; worryingly enough, I even find something of value with the absolute shitfest tracks “Almost Honest”, “I’ll Get Even” and “A Secret Place”, so my opinion on this album may not be the best to follow-up on.
In short, this isn’t nearly as good as I remember, but it still holds a place as a record I remain strangely fond of.
6 cocktails made up of Dave’s tears out of 10.
- Information
- Released: 1997
- Label: Capitol Records
- Website: www.megadeth.com
- Band
- Dave Mustaine: vocals, guitars
- Marty Friedman: guitars
- Nick Menza: drums
- David Ellefson: bass
- Tracklist
- 01. Trust
- 02. Almost Honest
- 03. Use the Man
- 04. Mastermind
- 05. The Disintegrators
- 06. I’ll Get Even
- 07. Sin
- 08. A Secret Place
- 09. Have Cool, Will Travel
- 10. She-Wolf
- 11. Vortex
- 12. FFF
