Megadeth - Cryptic Writings
I got through the first five albums quickly, they're top stuff (if you discount the cover of Anarchy in the UK). Youthanasia was a little harder to digest but still nice. This is a big dip. It's still quality metal, but it's containing nothing that defines Megadeth, with the exception of Dave Mustaine singing. By this point, metal has fully entered the dark age kicked off in 1991 when Metallica released the Black Album, and every other band decided to abandon their own identity and create the same mainstream radio-friendly content as each other. It never escapes my notice how a lot of the songs are not only the same tempo as each other, but as Enter Sandman. Solos and guitar trickery of any kind are thin on the ground, to the effect that Marty Friedman, a man I've always considered to be one of the greatest guitar shredders in history, is basically anonymous. Occasionally a track like The Disintegrators or Have Cool, Will Travel comes along and reminds you what this band used to be, but then it's right back to reality. Still a decent album, just absolutely not a Megadeth album. And having heard that the next album, Risk. goes harder in the same direction as this one, I'm not hopeful for it.