Megadeth

United Abominations

[2/5] Ever since Dave Mustaine got kicked out of Metallica for being too drunk, Megadeth have followed in the footsteps of his ex-bandmates, abandoning thrash and becoming increasingly tepid and more commercial with each post-1990 release. But other than 1999’s Risk, that stupid wrestling-commercial song and a few other regrettable slip-ups, Megadeth have done a much better job of keeping it metal; Metallica don’t even pretend to be anything other than a hard rock band these days. But now Dear Ol’ Dave has possibly crossed the point of no return-potentially out-sucking even Metallica-by re-recording “A Tout Le Monde,” an overly earnest, half-French power ballad from 1994’s Youthanasia, as a duet with Lacuna Coil siren Cristina Scabbia. And it’s too bad, because the rest of this state-of-the-union-style concept album is surprisingly metal. It’s just not (with the notable exception of “Never Walk Alone… A Call To Arms”) metal that you’d necessarily wanna hear. (ROADRUNNER) J. Bennett