Following his expulsion as lead guitarist for Metallica, Dave Mustaine formed Megadeth... and brought along all of his baggage. Mustaine was ousted from Metallica for (among other things) his issues with alcohol and drugs, which continued, and were shared by others in his new band. The band's rhythm guitarist and drummer would go on to be fired at the conclusion of the promotional tour for this album for continuing drug use. The guitarist would later resurface as a session player on a later Megadeth album, which kind of speaks to how the band would essentially go on to just be Mustaine backed with a revolving cast of musicians. Even stalwart David Ellefson left for a period in the 00s.
Dave also bought to his new band, the original Metallica sound that he had helped craft, but without the sonic development they started undergoing pretty soon after his departure. He kind of stuck with his format of speedy riffs and virtuoso guitar solos, but with songs never as memorable as Metallica's, and with much cheesier lyrics. He seemed for much of his career to be playing catch-up, to the extent that, following the success of Metallica's LOAD albums, Lars Ulrich suggested that Dave take more risks with his sound. The result was him releasing the imaginatively titled "Risk" with an alt-rock sound that most of his fans hated because they'd always loved that he stuck to a more or less similar sound across his albums.
So anyway, this record is a competent piece of thrash metal, but with few particularly memorable songs. Some good riffs here and there and some impressive soloing, but not up to the standard of his former band.
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