✦✦✦✧ Megadeth’s final album is absolutely listenable. The shredding is beyond reproach, of course, and Teemu Mäntysaari does a great job filling Marty Friedman’s shoes. And I’ve gotta say, the album closer Ride The Lightning really does bring something extra to the Metallica classic, and may be my favorite thing on the whole album… but you ought to listen to the whole thing through, from start to finish.

✦✦✧✧ This new Megadeth album feels more like a successor of Rust In Peace or Countdown To Extinction than any other Megadeth album from the last fifteen years. Some of the songs on here even come close to Classic status. But it’s a long listen (even if you skip the last two uninteresting cover songs on the album).

✦✦✧✧ This isn’t the worst thing that Megadeth have done (that honor still stays with Super Collider). Also, the shredding here is satisfyingly sharp, and the production is crisp and heavy. I’ll remind you here that Chris Adler is playing drums on this, because otherwise you’d never know it from listening to the album.