Posted:  8/8/05

How many of you fans always hoped that Megadeth would add techno/electronic backbeats to their music? Well, if you’re that wacko, your wish came true on Risk. The band received quite a few spankings from older fans and critics for Cryptic Writings, the album that preceded this. If you were part of the club that thought the band abandoned their thrash background on Cryptic Writings, don't even listen to Risk.

Apparently they used "Almost Honest" (from Cryptic Writings) as a template for many of the songs on this album. There is absolutely no musical connection between Megadeth’s sound on this record and anything they’ve ever done. In fact, it sounds like Dave Mustaine is fronting a completely different band. At times they sound like The Cure ("Ecstasy"), Marilyn Manson ("The Doctor is Calling") or Prodigy ("Insomnia"). Surely, you’ll be saying, "What the f***?" All the sampled sounds, loops and other 90s trappings serve only to take away from Megadeth’s power. We’ve all heard "Crush ‘Em," and while it’s not at all terrific, it is the only slightly traditional song on here. Even though "Insomnia" and "Prince Of Darkness" are really heavy and contain the typical Mustaine clenched-teeth method of singing, they are so electronic that they come off as a rip-off of what was hip in 1999. The rest of Risk is strangely poppy, with "Breadline" being so yippy-skippy that you won’t believe this is the same band that wrote "Wake Up Dead." Even more unbelievable is the fact that Mustaine has written a love song called "I’ll Be There" complete with a ‘whoa, whoa, whoa’ chorus. While the song is hooky in itself, I just can’t believe a typical Megadeth fan is looking for this style from the band. The biggest change is in the guitar sound of Mustaine and Marty Friedman. The riffs of the past are completely missing, replaced by psychedelic strumming techniques. Friedman does have a few straight-out rock solos that are amazing ("Seven") but display a completely different side of him.

The Bloody Truth: I think I know why previous basher Nick Menza gave up on this band; Megadeth reduced themselves to single bass drumming on Risk. But ex-Y&T drummer Jimmy DeGrasso apparently has no problem with the simplistic technique found here. While a lot of the songs are well constructed and have memorable hooks, the disappointment comes in the fact that the band isn’t anything that we remember. The rumor was that Metallica’s Lar’s Ulrich had said in an interview that Megadeth should take more risks, and main-man Dave Mustaine apparently listened. My theory on this is that Ulrich was tired of the fact that Mustaine and Co. were always one step behind Metallica and wanted to bury Megadeth for good. If this was true, Mustaine is an absolute dummy for listening to Ulrich. Didn't he see that Metallica had been slapped over and over again for selling out?

In hindsight, Dave saw the error of his ways.  Read the liner notes of this remix/remaster where he slags Dann Huff (producer) and Bud Prager (Capitol A&R) for destroying Megadeth. I applaud Dave for his honesty in the liner notes.  Few guys would have the guts to say they messedup.