 All right, here we are, everybody. What is going on today? A special edition of the Metal Voice. Talking about, first of all, can everybody hear us properly? You want to do a mic check there, apparently? Testing, one, two, three, testing, one, two, three. Testing, one, two, three, one, two, three. Can you hear us out in Metal Voice land? All right, everybody, tell us if the audio balance is well. Sometimes I'm a little louder than parents, a little louder than me. Sometimes it's a nice balance. Sometimes it's too low. Got to crank it up. On the Metal Voice today, a special. Oh, David says yes. Very good. Thumbs up. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Special edition, like I said, Megadeth, the Sick, the Dying, and the Dead. I have heard this. Parent has not heard this. Okay, this is a very special edition because parents are going to be asking me questions and everybody out there in YouTube world, you can ask questions, too, pertaining to this album. I've heard it all. I've tried to absorb as much as I could. It is a very, there's a lot to absorb. Think of the Iron Man now, just a lot to absorb. I've been nervous all day, Jimmy, because I've done a lot of celebrity interviews and a lot of rock star interviews, but this might be the biggest interview I've ever done on the Metal Voice. I've been nervous all day, jotting down notes, because I just want to make sure. I want to put you at ease. First thing first, as you've noticed, I've been wearing my Grim Reaper shirt, and you will see this Grim Reaper shirt on forthcoming shows and shows that we've done. I'm not wearing it all day long. I'm just wearing it for the shows. It's my salute to Steve Grim Reaper who just passed away. In the link of this video, there is a link to Steve's send-off to Forest Funeral. They were not rich. They did not have a lot of money. Funeral cost a lot of money. Go to the video link in the description if you want to give a few bucks and help out a milli and a family and to send Steve off in a good way in a nice funeral. A little bit of money goes a long way to put someone who was so wonderful and gave us so much music over the years. Send him off in a great way. Perrin? Yeah. This is the first time I'm on the show since the passing of Steve earlier this week. Privately, when Jimmy told me the news that he thought it had happened, I was kind of floored and then when it was confirmed that Steve had passed away, I was floored. And we've lost a lot of our friends and heroes along the way since we've been doing the show together. But it hits the little closer to home when it's somebody you feel you know a bit better. And I know Jimmy, you spent quite a bit of time with Steve. And the last time Steve was in town, UI and he and Ian and the guys in the band had dinner together. So I kind of feel like it was somebody that even though it was just three years ago time flies, but I kind of just feel like it was yesterday that I was in this room having dinner with him. And now he's not there anymore. And I just want everyone to know, like I met Steve for the first time when I was 16 years old as a fan at an in store. And you know, sometimes those in stores could be like signed next signed next. And Steve was never like that. Steve, you know, I remember back then he stopped, he listened to stories, he laughed, and it was one of the most engaging in stores I'd ever been to. And Steve was the coolest guy back when I was 16 years old. And then flash forward, like over 30 years later, you know, I get to meet him again with you and just he invites us backstage and we're having, you know, dinner backstage before their show. And we're talking as if no time has passed. And it's just very friendly, cordial conversation. And that's the thing, Steve was just like a regular down to earth guy, you can talk about music or life or anything. He was an open book. And he's a regular guy, like me and you. And like you said, you know, he wasn't a rich man, Grim Reaper gave us some great music. But like a lot of our heroes, you know, he unfortunately didn't get the benefit from his music like he should have. Yeah, he lived a modest life. So if there's anything anybody can do, you know, it could be a dollar, it could be $100. Everybody just do what you can do. But we could give Steve the send off he deserves and help Millie and the family. And I just like to express my condolences to Millie and the family because they're they're great, great people. And, you know, if it's one thing we are here, it's a community and we take care of our community. So anything we can do in this case, we'd love to be able to do. And that's why we will be mentioning it on our shows and on the site as much as we can the next little bit. And just so you know, nobody great stuff parent and nobody send me money. You send it to the link that's in the description of the video. Because last time I was doing a charity for I can't remember who I think was razor. They're sending me the money and I had to like send it to them and just make it easy. Click on the link as a fundraiser link in the description. We can Google, you know, Steve Grimit fundraiser for sending him off and send the money there right to them. And that would be much appreciated. All right, let's switch gears from something a little sad to something a little new. The album is going to be released on September the 2nd. This is produced by Dave Mustainman, Chris Rackstra. I hope I'm pronouncing that name right. It'll be released on Universal and Tradecraft. There were three singles that were released from the album Will Be Back, Night Stalkers and Soldier on. Well, today you're going to get to hear what the rest of the album is like. Well, I'll do my best to tell everybody what the rest is. I've been hearing it. I've been trying to absorb it. And I'll give you the whole, how about this? We'll go through the songs. You could ask me questions, but I'll just start off with just thoughts, okay? Production. You've heard the production, everybody, on those first three songs, you know, it's bright. It's clean. It's crisp. And to me, it sounds very well mixed with all the instruments. Do you agree, Karen? Well, I can only speak for the first three songs. Well, I mean, that'll be the production on the rest of the album, right? So if that's what the whole record, and you know, my first question to you, Jimmy, was going to be, are those first three songs, whether it's production, whether it's lyrical content, whether it's pacing, are those three songs representative of the record? Like, if I like those three songs, will I love this record? If I'm kind of on the fence about those songs, will I be on the fence about the record? Well, we'll get to that question in one minute. All right. The guitar work, as you heard in the first three songs, top notch. It's clear. It's clean. It's just 10 out of 10 for Kiko, right? There's time changes. There are key changes. There's tempo changes galore. I don't think there's any megadeth album that had this many tempo changes. Lots of lead breaks, a lot of soloing. Solos are like hovering in the back at all times. It takes a long time to absorb this album. I'm going to tell all those fans out there. Very colorful and witty lyrics, something you haven't heard in a while from Mustaine. And lots of spoken word. Like, you've heard Iced Tea sort of, you know, doing this spoken word on which song was it? Was it on Soldier On or Night Stalkers? It was Night Stalkers, the second single. A lot of that. A lot of that. So is it other guests doing that? Or is it Dave Mustaine doing that? Dave Mustaine. At some points, I think he's actually kind of trying to rap. I wouldn't call it a rap like traditional. Jimmy, you're scaring me. See, like, if this is supposed to be selling the record to me, like you telling me that. No, I take that back. Kind of a mean phrase. Yes, spoken word. Yes, I like that. It's a phrasing. It's a phrasing that, you know, it's kind of like a talking phrasing where it rhymes. It could be considered a metal ish rap. But it's not. You know, if the sales of the record go down because of the show, then like, you know, it's not a good thing, you know? No, no. So I would tell everybody who's a Megadeth fan who has basically everything that they have, you know, you're going to love it. There's absolutely no way a Megadeth fan is not going to love it. And the first question was that I saw in the chat today. And it was from Dave Lee Murphy. Here's a question. Do you think Megadeth Dave Mustaine needs to call it a day after this album? Or do you think he has one more good album in it? I can tell you right now, he has not run out of gas. His tank is full and he's firing off on all cylinders. I'm like completely blown away by this album. Dave Mustaine is brilliant. You know what? Sure, throughout the career, there's been a couple of slow points or low points. And then there's been those dynamics of, you know, better albums. But let me tell you, this guy is firing off on all cylinders off this album. So Jimmy, let me ask you, do you think it's the fact that maybe Dave took a little bit more time to make this record? Because it felt like, you know, I think most people liked the system has failed and that got really positive reviews. And then it felt like the albums after that came fast and furious. You know, United Abominations, 13, Endgame, Super Collider, dystopia, like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And some were better than others, but they came at us pretty quickly. It felt like, and this one, you know, due to COVID or whatever else and band member changes, it seems like it took a bit longer to get there. So do you think for Dave to put out the best music possible, he needs to not rush things? And if he puts out an album next year, maybe he won't be so good. But if he tours this and doesn't release another album for three records and really lets whatever else is going on marinate inside of them, do you think we get a better record when Dave Mustaine takes a bit more time to do it? Absolutely. So I mean, think of it this way, you know, when a band first makes their first album, they have their whole sort of like, you know, your whole life, well, even though it's like 18 years, maybe, but you have so much time to make that first album and to perfect those songs and to jam them out. I think this is what happened in this case, because this album was started before COVID and then COVID and now today. So all this time to sort of think, redo, you know, to really craft well-crafted songs. And this is not, I wouldn't consider this album sort of, you know, the P-Sells, but who's buying the hit, you know, like that song, it's catchy, it's melodic, I would consider it, you know, a mesh of these guys right here. And I had them all out. So from Rust in Peace to, you know, dystopia to Endgame and even the first time killing is my business, I would say it's less like this and less like this. So in other words, you're not looking at the 90s and you're not looking at the 2000s. You're looking more of the sort of dystopia and beyond. Like, it's not dystopia though, it's organically the next step away after. So I've been reading a lot and I have to say I agree. Based on the first three singles, I've seen a lot of people comparing the music to Rust in Peace era, Megadeth. Now in your mind, is that the comparable? No, I would say, whoops, I just dropped the CD. I would say it's sort of like Rust in Peace meets Endgame meets dystopia. Okay. And on and on, you know, Perrin has heard all three singles and Jimmy got an advanced copy. Okay, so that's one. And you know, Dave's played songs. Okay. Yeah, just everyone knows the way this normally works. Sometimes the record companies will send us something early and Jimmy gets to share it with two or three or four of us because they can see everything. There's no more CDs. Everything's digital. So in this case, I had, I only had the advanced copy on this case. Okay, so I heard it. I absorbed as much as I could. And here we are. Bottom line is this is not dystopia. This is organically the next step after dystopia. So we're going into new territory, we're still traditionally Megadeth, but we're also going into some new territory. And I think the big part of this album of why it's so great is because Kiko is now writing with Dave. He's more comfortable in the band, right? He's been with him for some time now. So now you're seeing the true essence of the songwriting team of Dave, Mustaine, and Kiko. And let me tell you, man, Dave is brilliant. Kiko is brilliant. And I guess there's some more contributors. I just got to see who actually wrote on this album. I think, let me just go here. Dave was recently quoted in an interview where he was saying- Oh, Dirk is also. Dirk also did. And Dave did an interview this week or he made a statement where he kind of said that it was really refreshing to have Dirk and Kiko contribute to the record. Yeah. So Kiko has contributed a lot to this record and you could tell. And you know, it was that sort of like the breath of fresh air. So that to the original question that I asked, have they run out of gas? Absolutely not. They are firing off on all cylinders. Okay. So we had Steve DeGiorgio of Testament, right? He came in to replace Dave Elson on the album. Yeah. And I don't think he sleep. Steve is like an incredible metal all-star bassist. I mean, he's known for Testament. He's done sadists. I think he must have been an ice-earth for a little bit as well. He's been everywhere. Yeah. So Steve is like a metal all-star bass player. But for my understanding is Kiko actually, there was some bass parts. Elson then did the bass. They removed the bass. And then Steve DeGiorgio, he added some bass. We don't know how much and what extent, but the point is the bass is there and it's great. All right. You want to talk about the songs? I'm going to say and I'll say this once again. This is the most tempo-changing album Megadeth has. I went through the whole discography. There are just so many different moods going on. There's so many tempo changes. It's ferocious. Is that the right word? Ferocious? Ferocious. You can say it's ferocious. It's ferocious. It's thrashing. There are a couple of quirky moments, I would say, more colorful lyrics than most albums. And Dave, you asked me about the singing, right? But it doesn't get monotonous because I loved the first two singles. I didn't like the third one as much. And if the third one had been the first one and I hadn't heard anything else, I might have liked it. But by the time we got to the third single, I thought it was like, okay, is there an In My Darkest Hour? Is there a Tula Mon? Is there something different on this record? Or is it just all going to be the really heavy fast stuff? So I kind of divided this into like three types of songs that are on this album. There's the sort of out-of-the-box quirky ones. There's the sort of machine gun thrashing, you know, as you heard on the first three songs, right? The machine gun drumming and riffing, the chugging. And then you have sort of like the storytelling Dave Mustaine, you know? And that's kind of, I kind of divided into, those are more like the heavy metal storytelling of Dave. So is it storytelling like sweating bullets that's kind of swing tempo? Or is it like In My Darkest Hour that's a bit slower tempo? Look, is there a slow tempo song on the record? No, there's no ballad if that's what you're saying. There is a slow, there's more of a groove, slow groove, but there's no ballad, absolutely. There's no Tula Mon. And that'll probably make a lot of people happy. I mean, look, I don't mind one slower tempo song on the record. I love In My Darkest Hour, you know, and obviously it speeds up at the end. I like a Tula Mon, you know, I would want a record full of it, but you know, I don't mind one song, but there isn't one of those, gotcha. All right, so the sick, the dying and the dead, that's the first track. We'll go through the tracks really quickly. I don't want to... Yeah, so yeah, so I have the track listing here. So okay, so the sick, the dying and the dead, first song. This is the black plague. So everybody knows that's the story behind it. You hear little snippets of sound bites here and there, a little cool picking at the beginning, very slow. And then it gets into a really cool song. I would consider this more of a heavy metal song than a thrashing song. Of course, it's very technical. There's a lot of groove there, a lot of... Like I told you about the lead, there's a lot of lead breaks, but hovering in the background of the verse and the chorus, Kiko, 10 out of 10 job on this, on the whole album. And then at one point, I don't want to, you know, I don't want to tell everybody everything about these songs in the album, but at one point it just kind of stops. And it's like the ring around the rosy, Dave is kind of singing the ring around the rosy pocket full of posy. And you're kind of like taking back what? But it has to do with the black plague, and it just has a monster ending after that. So fabulous. Are these songs long, by the way? Like are these songs long? No, between the record... Four to six, seven, I would say. Okay, yeah, 14 songs, an hour and three minutes. So nothing should be too long. Okay, so then we go into life and hell is the second song. And just K-man saying he loves those nursery rhyme stuff. He does. And that's what makes Dave Dave. And this album has so many colorful lyrics, like, you know, a lot of different topics. It's not that machine gun, let's get into... Like the first three singles were sort of the army, we'll call it war based. Yeah, you know, I think they were very deliberate with the first three singles, because, you know, the first single will be back. I think they wanted to tell people, we're back, and we're back to kick ass. And I feel like sometimes you can just tell kind of what the marketing message is. And I think they just wanted to grab people's attention of the first three songs. And let people know that if you like hard driving Megadeth, it's back. I'm really pleased he seems to have injected more enthusiasm on the album. Yes, you are correct. And I think the first three singles, they're connected in a sense that what you said, as well as the story of Vic, Vic Rattlesnake, right? Vic Rattlehead. Rattlehead, sorry, sorry, Vic Rattlehead. Wrong, wrong Vic. So that was the sort of the, what do they call it? The how he was sort of, he became who he was, right? What do they call it? His backstory. His backstory, but there's a word for it. I just forgot it. Yeah, backstory. That's a better word for that. All right, well, if anybody has a synonym for backstory, let us know. So, so life in hell is the second track. So what's life in hell all about? Another thrasher. So all the thrashing fans will be very happy. Again, there's the spoken word that I was speaking about. There's a lot of that there too. It's creepy, you know, and it is a cool line, you know, spy versus spy in the song. And you know, if anybody knows what spy versus spy is, it's from Mad Magazine. Mad Magazine, yeah, for our generation. You know, and another line in the story is busted, caught red handed again, a couple of pills, a couple of drinks, who doesn't care anymore. So I don't know if this is like a serial killer that's talking. I don't know if it's someone who's done something really bad who doesn't care about life. So that's all I can get out of it. Yeah, you probably get it more after repeated listens too. I don't think you've listened to this 20 times either. So I mean, you're probably gonna have to read the lyrics a bit more. Yeah, yeah, which is fine. The drumming is outstanding, by the way, on this song. And it's, I would say it's the cousin of Night Stalker. Super technical speed and thrash. And then Night Stalker is next. So I don't know if you need to talk too much about that, because I think we've heard it, and we even reviewed it on one of our shows. You know, we talked about, we talked about that. We don't really know how much Iced Tea really contributed to it, because it was just one little, little part. But you know, it's always nice to have Iced Tea. Dave Mustaine was on Iced Tea's album, and I guess he's sort of returning to favor. So everybody else, you've heard Night Stalker, we don't need to talk about it, apparently unless you want to. No, because you know, I'm curious. I love the next title. So the next title in itself has me curious, Dogs of Chernobyl. So I, and somebody asked, what's the best tracks out of the album? I would say this is probably one of the best songs on the album. This is Storytime with Dave. So if everybody doesn't know what the Dogs of Chernobyl is, in the Ukraine in the 80s, when everybody evacuated the, when the nuclear, there was a meltdown of the nuclear reactor, right? Right. All that was left were dogs, basically. A lot of the dogs were shot, but some of the dogs lived. And they say to this day, those dogs of the day back in the 80s, they don't live, of course, today, but they bred. So they're still dogs of Chernobyl. So it's a story of abandonment. It's a metaphor, basically. He's saying, you've left me like the dogs of Chernobyl. So it's an abandonment. It's a love song, but it's not about it. And, you know, there's a little bit of a rap in the middle, but I want to call it a rap. We'll say, we'll call it like a spoken word phrasing. Yeah, I'm curious to hear this now, because see, I like a well-placed spoken word piece. Now, I don't mind rap either. I love what Rush does during Roll the Bone. So it just kind of depends how far you go and how it fits the song. But, you know, again, sometimes a very well-intended spoken word piece can really help deliver the message of a song. Some really cool riffs happening throughout that song, and then it speeds up, you know, at the end. And it's just, to me, if I was to say one of my favorite songs, I have a few, I would say Dogs of Chernobyl is one of the greatest songs. Because, again, it's not talking about war. It's he's using metaphors to describe abandonment. And I think that's what makes it even more fun and cool. All right, then we get into more simple song titles. So the next one is Sacrifice. All right, so on this one, Dave is using a more of an Arabic vocal line. So, you know how you hear Arabic scales? We're kind of a cadence, you mean? Like the cadence of the song? Yeah, the phrasing, the vocal lines, that type of vocal line. And it's fabulous. And again, it's a very fast-paced song. Now, however, this is where the song is a little bit weird. More proggy in a sense, where because the verse is amazing, it kind of goes into this bizarre chorus. I think it's a key change, and it's probably not a great key change where the chorus is not as melodic as you'd want it to be. However, when you listen to it on the headphones, you're going, oh my God, there's so much going on here. The guitar work, the strumming. I think this is more of a musicians, musicians type of song. Not your typical P-Cells, but who's buying, you know, accessible commercial person looking for that song. This is more of a musicians, musicians guitarist song. You put on headphones, you're saying, there's a lot going on here. It's very proggy, and there's a lot of changes, and key changes, and time changes, and tempo changes, and you're going, wow, this is pretty cool. So I wouldn't say this is my favorite, but I could see a lot of guitarists loving this song. That's a grower. It's cool. Yeah, there look, there's always going to be, you know, guitar players, bass players, drummers, and when you listen to metal, you kind of say, this is a guitar song, or this is a drum song, or this is, you know, just a simple song. Junkie. So that's interesting given the history of some of the people who've been in the band, or are not currently in the band. So is that autobiographical? Is it talking about somebody else? Is it just talking more in general terms? You know what, it's hard to tell. I think that the title is self-revealing. It's about junkies. You know, that's kind of what the song is. It starts off like an 80s glam rock song, something I don't know, maybe you weren't or quite right would do, but right away it changes into a, you know, a mega death song. Probably lacks a little bit of melody, but I could see this song off of Endgame or dystopia. You know, it's a straightforward metal song. It's not bad. I'm just saying it's not one of my favorites, but maybe given that time, it would be a lot better. Is anything bad? Is anything on record bad? No, no, it's like, if this is one of the lower echelon songs for you, yes, it's kind of a passable song, but just not as great as some of the other stuff. Yeah, exactly. I don't know if he's ever talked about junkies in all the other albums. And if he has, maybe I didn't, I don't remember. Do you remember? But not as, it's not as straightforward. Yeah, I mean, sweating bullets. Hello, me. He hasn't necessarily talked about hard drug use. Maybe he's told the story of, you know, looking in the mirror and realizing you're a junkie and, you know, being outside of yourself a little bit, but maybe not so directly. Yeah, I wouldn't call this, and I'll just count down to extinction. This is not this type of album. It's the organically next step to dystopia. Yeah, look, I thought the first three singles sounded like rest in peace. You said it was a bit of rest in peace. Ungame and a bit of dystopia. And I thought dystopia was a really great comeback as well. So if you tell me this record is part rest in peace, part dystopia, that has me interested as a fan. As a megadeth fan, that has me interested. I think that way. You know what? You know what's funny? Like I was listening to this album on headphones. I just kept getting excited and excited. And I go, you know, this is, Fred Davis' name is freaking amazing. Well, that's great, Jimmy, because I look, I will say. So Jimmy and I do get advanced copies of records. And sometimes we're really excited about it. And sometimes we're happily surprised and can't wait to listen to the next song. But sometimes we're like, this thing is 14 songs long and I don't really like it so far. So it's great when you get an advanced copy of something that it's kind of your job to review it, but also you want to enjoy it. So it's great that, you know, you kept wanting to hear more and it didn't become like your job. It sounded like, you know, whether you were on metal voice or not, you would want to be listening to this. Yeah, I know. Every time I put the album on, I get excited. Like, you know, it's like they're not, they have not run out of gas. In fact, again, I will say this, it's more technical than any album I've heard. And it's, it just keeps, it keeps, there's so many moving, it moves so much. There's no verse chorus, verse chorus fade, you know? And that's it. It just keeps moving. That's when Dave's at his best. I mean, Dave's a great musician and a great composer. So that's when Dave is at his best, I think, you know, when he keeps us on our toes. Is Dirk as solid as Chris Adler? Absolutely. Dirk is doing a phenomenal job in keeping it all together on this album. That's one of the questions. K-man saying, is there any songs that really blow you away? I just mentioned the first one. There's more. That's the Chernobyl, I think he said. That's the Chernobyl. That blew me away. I thought that was, and even the first song. Well, look, here's the thing. You know what? The first three singles were released and sort of we're not looking at them, but we have to look at them in the overall picture, right? That's down. We'll be back. It was great. I mean, again, it's later in the album, but, you know, okay. So let's keep moving. Psycho-Pathie. Psycho-Pathie. Is that what it is? Psycho-Pathie. Yeah, Psycho-Pathie. So here's the thing. That is just an intro. You know, think of the Hellexon. Think of the Hellexon. So it's an intro to Killing Time. Killing Time would be the next song. Strange enough, Psycho-Pathie is a spoken word. Okay. But it's not a rap, a spoken word. It's not a rap, a spoken word. But it's a great segue into Killing Time. So it could have been together. How's that? Is it Killing Time or is it Killing Time? And which is it? Well, it's Killing Time. Like Time to Kill? Killing Time. You're wasting my time in that. Sort of sense. You know, stop wasting my time. Stop killing my time. So I don't know if this is about someone he doesn't like. This is somebody who's wasting his time. This is about a liar, a pathological liar. Is it about anyone who might have been in the band in the past? No lyrical references in that way? I know you're lying when you're moving your lips. That's something he's repeating throughout the whole track. It's a bit of acoustic part in the middle at the end. The soloing is just phenomenal. Sounds like my tea has jabs at the end. When you start moving your lips, I know you're lying. So don't tell me you need me. You're killing my time. So it's sort of like you're wasting my time, right? This this liar that's sort of absorbing his life. Stop killing my time. Stop wasting my time. So this I could see this off the system has failed. Okay. Well, I love that record. The system has failed is probably like my third favorite Megadeth record. And you asked for people's top 10 Megadeth songs before. And I had the Scorpion in my top 10 and I could have had Back in the Day and Die Dead Enough. So I love that record. So if you tell me killing time is something that could have been off the system has failed, that's something I'm going to go to right away when I get this record. Yeah, it's a great song and it's a grower too. And again, I will say this. I love all the songs. I just tend to love some more than others. Summer of Seven to us. Summer of Seven, Summer of Nine. That's the way life is, right? Yeah. Okay. So Soul Drone is next, which we've heard. And I will just say though, I loved the first two singles. And when I heard Soul Drone, I kept waiting for something to happen and nothing happened because I thought it was the first of the three singles that was just the same riff throughout. And it was the most simple straightforward of the three singles. And I was a little disappointed and maybe that wasn't fair just because I felt like there were so many interesting things that were happening and we'll be back at Night Stalkers that I thought Soul Drone was just a little bit monotonous. So it was my least favorite of the three singles. Where does it rank in the album for you? You know what, I even said this to you before. I really like Soul Drone because it's sort of like we've got to keep marching on despite the whole world falling apart. I kind of like that theme. Yeah, the message is great. I just thought the song was just same, same throat song. Would you agree that's more of a dystopia-ish type song that could have sat well on that album? Yeah, probably. Yeah, it's definitely in the bending of the strings which has become the trademark. You know that sound. I think dystopia, even Rustin Pisa could have sat well this song. I like it. Soul Drone is a great song. Everybody's heard it. So I mean, I don't know what else I could say about this. Yeah, I was just curious because it was my least favorite of the three singles. Everybody watching, did you enjoy Soul Drone? Were you like me who enjoyed it more or like Perrin who enjoyed a little less? Yeah, and I'm like you though, it's not a bad song, but whereas I thought the first two singles were like nines out of ten, I thought Soul Drone was like a seven out of ten. You know what, and I think what happened is the first three songs are very similar in style where the rest of the album is a little more variety. That's what I'm trying to say. Yeah, and I might have been, okay, I've heard this already. Maybe that's why it was only a seven to me, you know? And again, like you said, you need to kind of hear almost like the flow of the album to kind of really appreciate something. Because I mean, look, I'm really into sequencing of albums, and I feel like some bands pay very particular attention to how the tracks are sequenced, and some don't do a good enough job of that. So Soul Drone could be very welcome if it comes on the back of a couple of like differently paced songs before it. Exactly. So here's what Ove is saying, Soul Drone rules perfect chorus. I agree, man. It's a great song. You know, even watching the video, you get excited, right? I mean, can you believe these guys have had what? Is it 15, 16, 17, eight albums? And he keeps cranking them out. It's not like Metallica. You know, we sit and wait for, you know, ten years. No, eight years between records. No, I mean, I know, I'm glad he took his time a bit, but yeah, I think this is their 16th studio record. Yeah, yeah. All right. Okay, the next one's an interesting title. Celebutant. So it's like celebrity and debutant or celebutant. Yeah, it's basically talking about models and actors, how they need to be famous and popular. You know, it's more of a need than a want. And I think that's the message, you know, another technically thrash song. I dig it. I gave it like a nine out of ten, eight, nine out of ten. And again, great solos, a lot of tempo changes, a lot of key changes. There's not much more I can say. I would say again, Endgame dystopia, that's the album. And is it like making light of the Kardashians of this world and those kinds of people? Yeah, exactly. Exactly how it's become, it's more of a need to be a celebrity than a want to be a celebrity. I haven't done anything in a while. I haven't been in the public eye. Let me do something to get into the public eye. Exactly, exactly. And again, it would sit well on Endgame and dystopia. So that's how I kind of look at it, right? I went through all the albums. I go, where would this sit if you could put that? Okay. The next title is more like something I would expect on an Iron Maiden album, like Mission to Mars. I don't know if I, I don't envision Dave singing about outer space and that kind of thing. You see, me too. At first I go, this is going to be kooky, right? This is the best in my opinion. In my opinion, because I love space and Mars and all that stuff, the greatest song. This could have been the prequel to Hanger 18. Okay, wait. So is this the best song in the record too? To me, this is the best song. This is Mustaine Storytelling at his best. This is like the sixth million. I hear the title and I think Final Frontier from Iron Maiden. I think that kind of thing, you know? Which I know you might know. Do you know the song, 44 Minutes on Endgame? Yeah. It's kind of like a story, right? And it's police sort of back and forth going on. On this, he writes this. This could have went sideways, okay? He just writes it so well that you're just listening to the song and you're listening to the story. It's basically a mission to Mars, right? They're blasting off the story, right? They get to Mars and there's this sort of exchange between mission control and Utopia, the ship that Dave's on, Dave's on, whoever's on, right? And then there's some sort of, wait a second. We see some life there. We see another ship there. And I don't know if Earth evaporates at the end or the spaceship evaporates at the end, but there's this whole cliff anger where it starts off as this cool thrashing song. It goes into overdrive at the end. And it's just this grand finale. And to me, one of the best tracks. And I would guess this is going to be a video because it's so intense. It's kind of like, you know, Steve Austin, you know, $6 million dollar man, you know, and there's the explosion at the end. It's kind of like that. So, from a political perspective. And there's a little bit of humor. And there's witty humor in there, which makes it that much more enjoyable. All right. You really piqued my interest of that one. So I'm looking forward to it as well. The next track is We'll Be Back, which was the first single. So I think everyone has heard that a ton. I loved it. That one grabbed me by the throat the second I heard it. And I was like, wow, Megadeth are back, you know. And I'll be the first one to admit. I said this to someone on our thread today. I'm more of a casual Megadeth fan, the sense that I grew up with them. I don't really get into the deep tracks. I kind of like the more well-known songs. But We'll Be Back when I first heard it. I'm like, wow, I really want to hear this record. I think this is really like a harbinger of something like really great coming, you know. So I thought it was a great song. I think it's probably my favorite of the three singles so far. And I just want to say something about the first track, The Black Plague. That was written before COVID. And I think Mustaine said something about this in the press a while ago. Has nothing to do with COVID. This was written well before. And sort of the history of The Black Plague back in the day. And yeah, you know what? I would say this. This is a brilliant album. Dave Mustaine has outdone himself. And it would definitely fall into the top three all-time Megadeth albums. Okay, Jimmy, that's a huge statement. It is a huge statement. If you're saying 16 albums, I think, into their career, that in 2022, Megadeth has released a top three album when we're talking about Rust and Peace, you know, Countdown to Extinction, Peace Cells, So Far, So Good, So What. It's around there. You know what I mean? It's around there. Will it outdo Rust and Peace? Only time will tell. I can't make that call now. I'm going to say, that's a bold statement to say it's a top three record. So I mean, you're really. Within the top three of the Megadeth, it's higher. It beats all the 90s and the 2000 albums, The Risks, you know, all those albums there. Okay, I'm going to ask you this. It beats Endgame. It beats Endgame. Best album since. Now, if you like dystopia, you might just say best album since dystopia. I would say Megadeth and Endgame were the two best last Megadeth albums, right? Right? And I think it's a fair statement. I think everybody would say that too. I love that the system has failed. I haven't like. Oh yeah, me too. I haven't right here. You know, it's a long time ago now. It's coming up on 20 years, you know? No, this is a great album too. Don't get me wrong. It's wonderful, but this is more. It's the first two tracks are great. You know, it is a great album. It is a great album. I mean, no question, but it does beat this album. Look, this is Megadeth at its best. Technical thrash. And you asked me about the vocals. Listen, it's Dave Mustaine. You know, we're talking about, you know. Yeah, you like his vocal delivery or you don't. You know, I will say like his voice isn't for everybody, but I mean, it's it's distinctly Megadeth, right? You know what? I don't think you could have these types of songs. I think the songs were written for that witty, growling, snarling voice that he has. When I first discovered Megadeth, back when he first released the first album, I was kind of put off by his voice. Yeah, I think a lot of people were at first. But I can see how his voice plays a huge role in the music that he makes today. It's just it's just it's distinct. Jimmy, I got two more songs on the now. Do you do do you get a version of these two songs? Because the next two songs are police truck, which is a really weird title. And then this planet's on fire, which really intrigues me. So you don't have those two songs on the advance tracks. No, those are bonus tracks. So you'll be a little bit surprised too then when you get the record, because there's going to be two records, two songs that you haven't heard yet. So on the normal version, we'll be back as the last song on the regular version of the record. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know, man. I'm looking forward to even picking this up when it comes out. You know, I suggest, you know, if you're a megadeth fan, you're going to love it. You know, just I love the cover art too. Let me say, like, you know, not, you know, people always buy physical copies all the time now. I'll buy a physical copy when I want the whole package. And I really like the cover art from what I've seen. So yeah, let's go through my questions, Jimmy. I just want to make sure I've hit everything. So I want to cover everything here. Yeah, I wanted to make sure the first three singles are representative. You say it's more diverse than that. Rust and peace comparisons, not exactly. There are no ballads or slower songs. I think you touched on some of the lyrical themes. You talked about Dave's voice. You talked about Kiko Dirk and the bass playing. So a couple of questions. Is this album, if you're a megadeth fan, is it an instant hit or is it a grower? And from your reaction so far, I'm hearing instant hit if you're a megadeth fan. You're going to like it regularly. You know what, when I first heard the first three singles like you did as a megadeth fan, I was completely compelled to hear more, right? So I think it's a hit in that sense. But what makes megadeth great is that there are still other tracks in the album that are growers and growers. You know about growers, right? Growers over time, you just learn to love these tracks. There's some quirky moments with the lyrics like we mentioned, right? But that's colorful. I like that. Why always have the same war themes, right? Will we be talking about this record a year from now, two years from now, three years from now? Because this is something you and I always talk about privately. Yeah, I like it, but in a year, I don't know if I'm going to be listening to it. Or I love it and I'll always listen to it. So which category is this in? Will this record stand the test of time? Of course we're excited about it now, but you know what? I think because there is so much going on in these songs, there'll be guitarists trying to take it apart. See, that's where the thing is, right? With megadeth. Guitarists try to take the songs apart. Drummers try to take the songs apart. That's why it stands the test of time. Now then there's the listeners, the casual listeners, like you and me, right? Are they hooky enough to stand the test of time? Is there enough substance in them? I think it does. I think it stands the test of time. Because I was trying to pinpoint which album it sounds like and it doesn't sound like any of the albums. There is that megadeth sound, but it doesn't really sound like any of the albums. Yeah, and I think that's a good thing though. Like when I say Rust in Peace or anything else, I always like it when a band puts out a record, but I can say, okay, there's kind of a lifeline to that record and a lifeline to that record, but it's not a copy of that record. I don't want a copy of Rust in Peace, but for me, the ideal megadeth record might be something that sounds a little like peace sells and a little like Rust in Peace and a little like the system has failed. And for me, that's the magic recipe. And for someone else, it might be something else. I don't want a carbon copy of another record, but there's definitely, if you told me it was half Rust in Peace, half Risk, I'd be like, what the hell are you talking about? That's a really weird combo. You know, but I like that you're saying it's a bit of dystopia and a bit of end game and a bit of Rust in Peace. You know what, a lot of people tell me, Jimmy, you love every album. No, I only love the albums I review. Yeah, because you know, guys, we don't want to come on this show and totally destroy something, particularly if it's a band or people that we like. So we're honest with you. When we do the panel show, sometimes I'll say something's a six on 10 or Jimmy will say he didn't like that song. But you know, we want to kind of turn you guys on the things that are cool and we don't want to kind of, you know, bury people if they don't really deserve to be buried. So are you ready to rate the record, Jimmy? Like, do you want to reserve your rating or are you ready? I think I might have to reserve it. Look, absolutely it's past eight out of 10, right? Like it's above that. There's no way it's any lower than that. Time will tell it, right? If it's going to be at 8.9 or a nine, you know, it's somewhere between eight and nine. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Okay. Well, I give of course three singles, a nine and nine and a seven. So nine, nine, seven is 25 divided by three. So it's like an 8.3. So for me, for the three songs I've heard, I'm over an eight with the three songs I've heard. If I thought the Sick of the Dying in the Dead was fantastic. Life in Hell is fantastic. Night Stalker is great. Dog's a Chernobyl. Sacrifice is good. Junkie Soso killing time. Soldier on. I love Celebutant great. And then Mission to Mars, that's nine. We'll be back. That's 10. So right away you could see somewhere between eight to nine out of 10. And again, so we're talking the album of the year candidates here. We're talking an album that will be in the conversation. Definitely. The album of the year. Yeah. Oh yeah. You know what pre-order this? If you're a megadeth fan, you have to pre-order this. This is, this is like, and especially if you love the, if you didn't like the first three singles, then don't bother. But I can't even see how megadeth fan wouldn't like at least two of the, the singles that were released, right? And those singles are not completely reflective of the rest of the album. Even though a lot of the album is like that, there's also a little bit more variety and a lot more going on than just that. There's a lot of stopping. For me that's the best thing that you've said. For me that's the best thing that you've said because I, I love the first two. I told you I was a little, hmm, soldier on's a bit same, same. And I was hoping you were going to tell me there was a bit more variety. So I'm really excited to hear that. Are there any last fan comments? There are no ballads. So there's no Tula Mahon. There's nothing like that. Okay. Great. And that's good for some people. Are there any last fan questions? Because I always need to remind Jimmy sometimes to read your guys' comments. So are there any last comments or comments? We're waiting for comments and questions in our final minutes here. Well, he said, so Francis says nine out of 10. Wow, that's a classic really. I'm just saying between eight to nine. I'm not giving it a number right yet. I just need some more time to think about it. But it's somewhere there. Yeah. But it's up there. Ove saying something for everyone? Absolutely. There's something for everyone. Happy to hear good vibes from it. Do you think it will debut at number one? I think it will. Perrin, what, what competition does it have? Yeah. I mean, look, so, well, September 2nd, I mean, look, there's so many charts now. There's the hard music chart. There's the, you know, new music chart. There's the overall, but you know, I think a Megadeth record, you know, as long as it's not up against, you know, the new, you know, Harry Styles record or whatever, could actually debut very high on the regular charts because there's enough fans. And you know how it goes, right? Metal fans are such that the first week, we all go out and buy it. And then the interesting thing to see with the record in metal is, does it sell decently well the second week, or is there a huge drop? Like did everyone buy it the first week and then there's nothing. So we'll see what kind of staying power, but you know, I don't even care about the charts. I'll be honest with you. Like at this point, what do the charts really mean? Like it's not, no one sells like a million records anymore, like the first week. Like it's just, that doesn't happen. But without a doubt, I know September 2nd, there's that. There's a few things coming out on September 2nd. It's like, you know, Jimmy and I were just saying, Fridays seem to be the big release day these days. It is, it is. Friday, September 2nd, there's a few things coming out. But I think, I think Megadeth is, you know, Megadeth is the big one that's coming. Ozzie, I'm not sure what the release date is, but I'm sure that's gonna, you know, get a lot of attraction. Yeah, I think it's October. Yeah. Yeah. So, look at this. Here's a, is it the best of the 2000 era in your opinion? Yes. It is the best of the 2000 era. I'm trying to think of all the ones in the 2000. We have this. Yeah. You have the system is failed. We have this. You have United Abominations. United Abominations that I don't have right here, but I have it somewhere. You know the Abominations? Absolutely. Oh yeah, definitely. 13 end games, Super Collider dystopia. Yeah, absolutely. So that's, that's a yes. Kiko, holy mackerel man. Kiko just, you know, his guitar tone, you know, and it's playing. He's not just playing fast. There are some moments on this album where he's just playing to the song and it's more of emotional solo than it is. Let's not forget Kiko and Dirk have been in the band for a while now, right? Even though they haven't recorded a lot with the band, Kiko, Dirk and Dave have been a unit for, you know, over five or six years, which I know isn't like 20 years, but for Megadeth it's a long time, right? So minus the basis change, you know, three quarters of the band has been a unit for a while and done a lot of shows together. So I think there's something there. And look, Dave has not always been one to want to let other people into his bubble when it comes to writing and creating. Of course, of course. And so the fact that he's letting Kiko and Dirk into the bubble I think it says something about the amount of respect he has for their ability because, you know, it was very much, you know, it's still Dave's band, but Dave was also the creator and was kind of like, here, play this, you know? And for Kiko and Dirk to make it kind of more of a band vibe and the creation of the songs, I think that says a lot about where the band is going and it's good because maybe we'll be able to see, it's they seem very happy with James Lemenzo, right? James joined as a temporary member. And then after the tour, the metal tour of the year of Lamb of God, it was announced that James is now a permanent member. So, you know, if we can keep this unit going for this entire tour and then record an album, another album together, we could be seeing, you know, a megadeth lineup with a good amount of longevity, which we haven't seen in a bit. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, is there any last questions from everybody? I think I pretty much, as my voice is going, I think I pretty much covered everything enough. I mean, I'm not a great guitarist by any means and I couldn't tell you, you know, you know, chord by chord, but I could give you an idea of what it sounds like. And I think you painted a good picture, Jimmy. I think like this show definitely, I think you've wet the appetite for me and for the rest of us. And look, the good news is, it's two weeks from today, so it's not too long to wait. Yeah. And, you know, sure, there'll be a few leaks out there. So everyone keep your eyes and ears open. But hey, Jimmy is a good citizen. He did not share the record that he was not supposed to share. And we did this show where I was flying blind a little bit and Jimmy's in the know and soon enough, you know, in a couple of weeks, maybe we'll do a panel show where me, Steph and Giles can chime in and Jimmy can interview us. But for today, the man in the know. So what did you think of my review a few weeks ago? Yeah, I'm going to review your review after I hear it. It's interesting because Dave Elson you know, I see a couple of comments, you know, so he was sort of brought in to just do his bass parts and then he was sort of removed, right? I don't know if he had any contributions to the songs themselves other than just doing the bass part that he was supposed to do. And for what I'm reading is he was just supposed to follow the bass guide, right, and do his own kind of thing. So it's a shame, but it is what it is, right? Yeah, I'm just happy that they survived. Yeah, people grow apart. Everyone's doing their own thing now and everyone lives to tell about it that we go from there. And who knows? Maybe there'll be another reunion one day down the road. Yeah. Everybody, thank you for watching. Go pick it up. Go pick it up and see I'm getting tired. Pick it up on pre-order. I put the links in the YouTube chat, YouTube video description. Grim Reaper, you know, you can send some money. I put also the link to send some money to for the funeral of Steve Grimit. Family's not rich. I'll put the album up as we close.