The Ultimate Review of Countdown to...

In his quest to beat Metallica Dave has done the drastic, he released an extremely mareketable album. Not really a sellout album...yet. It does a fairly good job of making a more marketable sound and still having it sound like a Megadeth album and for the most part is a good album.

Lyrically I feel Dave decided to add some new topics beyond his usual war, death and conspireacy. A bold move as it helps him share more of his worldly views and might get Megadeth into circles where they weren't present before and adding a layer that people can more easily relate to. Global awareness, (Countdown to Extinction) suicide, (High Speed Dirt) and mortgage troubles (Foreclosure of a Dream) have all been introduced. More melodic singing emphasizes the flaws in Dave's voice to a point where his natural charisma no longer covers it completely up, his vocals are still alright off the most part but a few tracks fall short (Captive Honour).

The guitar has almost completely traded its quick calculated riffs for slower more melodic riffs. This works out pretty well for the boys, the technicality is missed but the melody works just fine. There are also now guitar hooks added into the choruses. The solos are much slower but again add in another layer of melody. Forclosure of a Dream adds in a acoustic sections to fit as a ballad, ballads aren't new to Megadeth's music but they make more sense here. Not all the speed is lost though some tracks still rip along (High Speed Dirt and Skin O' my Teeth).

The drumming is slowed down and simplified. This really is a shame as its performance simply isn't as good now. The mixture of complexity and pounding did a lot for the performance and it simply doesn't sound right now. It also pounds a lot less to help with melody within the songs. I don't remember the bass doing much besides rounding out the sound and providing the basic backbone.

No, this isn't the Black Album and I'm sure many a metalhead like it far more however in the terms of competing with Metallica for popularity was a wasted effort (Black Album sold 16 million copies in the U.S. alone by the end of the 90s, pretty hard to beat) and ultimately while this album turned out just fine it foreshadows Dave's willingness to do whatever it takes to get the record sales and this foreshadows another release I'll most likely be covering before christmas, I'm sure Megadeth fans know what controversial piece I'm speaking of.

Standout tracks: Countdown to Extinction, High Speed Dirt, Symphony of Destruction and Sweating Bullets
Final Score: 77 / 100