Megadeth - United Abominations

The comeback is complete, as Megadeth delivers their best album in many years.

One of the hardest things for a band to do is recapture past glory. After releasing some of the best thrash albums of all time in the '80s, Megadeth continued their momentum into the '90s. As the decade progressed, however, their albums weren't as well received. And after frontman Dave Mustaine suffered a nerve injury in 2002 it looked like it might be curtains for Megadeth. He recovered, and 2004's The System Has Failed received very good reviews.

United Abominations is even better, and is the best Megadeth album in at least a decade. The band's current lineup is a good one, with guitarist Glen Drover, bassist James LoMenzo and drummer Shawn Drover. This CD features some outstanding guitar work from Drover and Mustaine. There are some killer riffs, and it's nice to hear some classic style extended solos.

Mustaine pulls no punches in his lyrics. Like the man, they are direct and straight to the point and leave no question to his interpretation of current political and social topics. One of the most polarizing parts of the new album is the inclusion of the remake of the song "A Tout Le Monde (Set Me Free)," featuring guest vocals from Cristina Scabbia from Lacuna Coil. If you're going to cover one of your own songs, it's good that it was changed up a little with a faster tempo and some female vocals, but to me it was one of the weaker songs on the album.

As someone who has been listening to Megadeth since the very beginning, it's great to hear them make an album in 2007 that's still powerful and relevant and will appeal to a wide cross section of metal fans.