Megadeth
Countdown To Extinction

In 1990, the great thrash masterpiece Rust In Peace was released under the name Megadeth!
Two years later, the American band attempted another coup with a new album: Countdown To Extinction.

This CD represents a fundamental stage of that artistic evolution that will gradually take them from the early heavy/thrash to the pathetic pop/metal of their latest, very sad releases (namely Risk and The World Needs A Hero). Due to this reason, many people indeed criticize this CD, accusing it of predictability and marking it as the beginning of what would later prove to be an agonizing decline.
However, in my opinion, Countdown To Extinction is a very valuable record from all points of view.

This fifth effort by Megadeth presents itself as a successful blend between more catchy melodies and thrash metal, with the characteristic screechy voice of the great Dave Mustaine marking a very mature and interesting songwriting.
The speed, except for the dynamic “Skin O' My Teeth” and “High Speed Dirt”, is decidedly more contained than in the past, all in favor of a slower and more grave approach, where heaviness and aggressiveness are the dominant features of this work. The first is mainly conveyed through a cadenced pace, marked by robust and precise rhythms (God bless Nick Menza forever!!!); the second emerges both among the dirty and raw lines of an excellent guitar work, as well as in the unmistakable vocals of the already mentioned mastermind Dave Mustaine, who probably finds his maximum vocal expression here.

Symphony Of Destruction, Sweating Bullets, Foreclosure of a Dream, the title-track, and Skin O’ My Teeth are excellent and great songs, some of the best ever written by Megadeth: but above all, they prove that you can write great thrash metal songs without falling into unnecessary virtuosity and convoluted song structures. It was experimenting with new solutions while always keeping an eye on the past. And they managed to do it damn well.
These were the "old" Megadeth searching for a "new" way... they weren't yet those "new" Megadeth who would later try to return as they once were.

The countdown to extinction has begun (even for their new album...)