Megadeth — Endgame

With thrash metal all of a sudden the sub-genre du jour in the heavy metal world, it was only a matter of time before Megadeth reemerged to remind everybody that as one of the genre's "Big Four" (the others being Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax), they pwn any young upstart nipping at their heals.

And what a ripper Endgame is. Megadeth are three albums deep into their comeback and sound as fresh as they did back at their Rust In Pieces/Countdown To Extinction peak. Lead single "Headcrusher," which is already making its way around the interweb, is pretty indicative of the rest of the album, though broodier tracks like "44 Minutes" mix things up. But through it all, Dave Mustaine's voice is filled with the same vitriol and spite that's propelled the band for 25 odd years.

Megadeth always operated in Metallica's shadow due to Mustaine's unceremonious booting from the group and his decision to create a band that was better, harder, faster and stronger than the Bay-area thrashers. While Megadeth never reached the same level of mainstream acceptance as Hetfield and company, he's stayed true to his vision, releasing twice as much material with a far greater degree of quality control.

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