Megadeth - United Abominations review
| Band: | Megadeth |
| Album: | United Abominations |
| Style: | Heavy metal |
| Release date: | May 15, 2007 |
| Guest review by: | Doc G. |
01. Sleepwalker
02. Washington Is Next!
03. Never Walk Alone... A Call To Arms
04. United Abominations
05. Gears Of War
06. Blessed Are The Dead
07. Play For Blood
08. À Tout Le Monde (Set Me Free) [feat. Cristina Scabbia]
09. Amerikhastan
10. You're Dead
11. Burnt Ice
12. Out On The Tiles [Led Zeppelin cover] [Japanese bonus]
13. Black Swan [Special edition bonus]
14. The Bodies Left Behind [Special edition bonus]
15. Special Live Track[Special edition bonus] [live]
Here it is, the latest release from the 'Dave Mustaine Experience'. One thing I have noticed is there doesn't seem to be one person standing middle-ground on this album, it's either a love or hate type thing. I'll try and put my sentimental attachments to this album aside and look at it from a rational point of view.
The opening track 'Sleepwalker' gives us the impression that there is going to be great Thrash ahead of us, even if the lyrical concept is a little lame (killing people in his dreams?). Then the following track, 'Washington Is Next' supplies just as many great riffs, great solos and clever lyrics, but then something happens... Mustaine starts going off on a big rant bringing the fast-paced feeling to the song to a bit of a halt. This becomes a pattern throughout the entire album. These rants are completely unnecessary considering what a great lyricist Dave has shown us he can be. Speaking of very unnecessary, we later come to the rerecorded version of 'A Toute Le Monde', a once tolerable, dare I say enjoyable song. Is now brought to a new low by Christina Scabbia....utterly pointless to say the least. When I think filler, two tracks on this album come to mind (other than the new 'A Toute Le Monde'), both being the final tracks on the album. They seem to lack any direction as well as relevance to the rest of the album.
Now that I'm done trashing United Abominations, I'll explain why it's in fact a reasonably enjoyable listen. When Dave isn't going off on some random rant in the middle of a song, the lyrics can be actually very clever, like 'Sleepwalker' for example. Though I find the song's concept lame, I find the lyrics themselves very clever. The guitar work is phenomenal on the decent tracks of the album, great riffs and fantastic solos; Drover will lay down a great solo, then Mustaine will come in and show him who's the daddy.
Overall not a terrible album, but not Megadeth at their best either. Do yourself a favour and buy "Rust In Peace" before you get around to this one.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 8 |
| Production: | 9 |
Written by Doc G. | 02.10.2007
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Rating:
5.9
5.9
|
Rating: 5.9 |
Who thought that Dave Mustaine, after being kicked out of Metallica, would be able to unleash one of the best known and most successful thrash acts in the metal world? Who thought that Megadeth would succeed to get a rightful place in the "big four" of the thrash metal bands along with Metallica, Anthrax, and Slayer? Well I personally think that all the credit goes to those three words " Rust In Peace ", the band's 1990 landmark album. No matter what Megadeth produce, if it's good, we will obviously love it and if it's bad we will eventually end up making excuses for it, simply because Rust In Peace is a masterpiece from the past which permantly continue to cast a shadow over anything Megadeth have done or ever will do. Oh yes, 1990 is a year to be remembered, 2007 is a year to be forgotten for who's claiming to be the Uncle Sam of metal. Read more ›› |
Rating:
6.3
6.3
|
Rating: 6.3 |
In Megadeth's catalogue, United Abominations sits in an awkward place coming right after a great comeback album, The System Has Failed, and right before an even greater comeback album, Endgame. Yet it is better than neither of the two. I have no idea what Dave was trying to do on this album. It's not a failure by any means, but isn't an excellent album either and, as I've noticed, disappointed many old-school Megadeth fans. Read more ›› |
Comments
Comments: 22
Visited by: 170 users
| Lord TJ Posts: 1522  |
Nice review. I was actually excited for this album but it doesn't seem to be anything crazy for, good thing I read this...
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| Deadsoulman Elite Posts: 8004  |
The rating is very generous considering the review  I agree with you that the first two songs are great. The rest is pretty bad, powerless and uninspired. It's altogether a very mellow album with quite poor songwriting. Considering that The System Has Failed was a nice step forward compared to Risk and TWNAH, United Abominations is a bitter disappointment to me. But Sleepwalker is really a great song and a perfect opening track for their live shows
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| Doc G. Full Grown Hoser Staff Posts: 9718  |
Written by Deadsoulman on 25.09.2007 at 22:10 Yeah, the good parts needed little explanation, I was able to sum them up pretty fast.
---- "I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck." - George Carlin
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| Eternal Flames Posts: 1570  |
Good review. Personally, I would have given the album a 6 or so but from the explanation in your review, I can understand why you've given it that particular rating. I agree with you that the first two songs are very good, although after that it begins going downhill. And the rerecorded version of "A Tout Le Monde" is indeed horrible and unnecessary. Performance wise it's decent, although they're lacking in the songwriting department.
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| Passenger Lost To Apathy Posts: 1464  |
It's good. It may not be a masterpiece, but it's an enjoyable album.
---- You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home. The rest is bullshit and you know it ~ Mean Streets
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| Mindheist No Longer Human Posts: 618  |
Nice review. It's not a masterpiece but it's still a Megadeth album, The one major flaw of this album that prevents it receiving a much higher rating is Dave's vocals,they are very very bad...I would give it a 6.5. Good Job.
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| Doc G. Full Grown Hoser Staff Posts: 9718 |
Written by [user id=4534] on 28.10.2007 at 03:46 7.5 is a good rating. Everyones so used to seeing 8s and 9s everywhere they dont actually read what it says next to the ratings, 7.5 means its good, not genius, but still worth listening to. And yes, I have listened to it quite a few times, all albums Ive done reviews for I play through atleast 3 or 4 times, this one even more so.
---- "I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck." - George Carlin
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| BlackEagle Account deleted |
BlackEagle
Account deleted
I don't know what are you talking about ,the album desereves at least an 8 .. did you gave the album a good listening? or just heard it once and then gave up ... Sleepwalker , Never Walk Alone , Blessed Are the Dead , Play For Blood , Burnt Ice and United Abominations are all Great (with a capital G  ) songs + Gears Of War and A Tout Le Monde are not too bad either...I Agree it isn't aggersive or genius like RIP but all in all its a very nice album...
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| ThrashMetal_Rulz Account deleted |
ThrashMetal_Rulz
Account deleted
At least Megadeth didn't try to go mainstream with another Risk lol. Alright guys, right now I only have $34.72 and a half eaten bag of chips to my name, but yesturday I saw United Abominations for sale at a store. Should I spend more then half my money on this album  ? (yes im serious)
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| Doc G. Full Grown Hoser Staff Posts: 9718 |
Written by [user id=19092] on 04.11.2007 at 19:45 If theres no better albums in the store. It is a good album, and worth the money, but I wouldnt fret about buying it right away.
---- "I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck." - George Carlin
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| khwatog Posts: 4  |
damn people.don't listen to it if you don't like it.have some respect, Megadeth is still one of the best bands you'll ever hear.
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| Warman Erotic Stains Posts: 7695  |
This album is shit. It has 4 cool songs, the rest is boring as hell.
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| DrunkenFuck Thrasher! Posts: 455  |
I like the album. Sure Burnt Ice and You're Dead are a little off (plus I absolutely HATE Never Walk Alone), bu the rest of the songs are killer! I can't get enough of Gears of War for example. Besides, A Tout Le Monde is not that bad.
---- THRASH!!!
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| Demonmayonnaise Posts: 362  |
No RIP but still pretty good. Im just glad they didnt do another risk... that album was bullshit.
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| Spyroid Rosetta Stoned Posts: 1023  |
I really liked this album, there aren't really any fillers like in all other Megadeth albums. It's more like all songs are a tiny bit above average and a few of them are really great. And as usual great lyrics, probably the only band whose political lyrics I actually enjoy. And I even like the new recording of A Tout Le Monde  He could've changed the lyrics though, Mustaine singing in french is just... stupidGood review even though I don't totally agree.
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| Samuel550 Account deleted |
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| megamegadethfan Account deleted |
megamegadethfan
Account deleted
It may not be the best Megadeth album but it's still pretty good. Sleepwalker is really good with guitars and I love how Dave puts together the war songs. I personally give this a 8.8. Long live Megadeth 
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| DrunkenFuck Thrasher! Posts: 455 |
I gave this one a nice 8. I think it has some of Dave's best work on it. Like Gears of War. That's really a song that make me either sing along or bang my head. The intro from Blessed Are The Dead is amazing. The riffing from Sleepwalker are awesome too. The last songs are fillers though and keep the score from getting higher. Plus I absolutely HATE Never Walk Alone... Call To Arms...!
---- THRASH!!!
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| thesabbathfan Posts: 410  |
I actually thought the album was great except for Bless Are the Dead and Amerikhastan. Idk why people hate Dave's vocals, I think they're some of the best thrash vocals out there.
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| Xeros612 Posts: 30  |
Written by khwatog on 12.01.2008 at 13:23 Much better to do that than just present one side of opinion on the subject. Last thing we need is an everpresent bias showing only one side's opinion. Anyways, decent enough album, but really not all that great. The System Has Failed still beats it by far in terms of modern Megadeth.
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| Coolingsrock Posts: 228  |
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62012  |
There are no Dave Elafsion in the booklet 
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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