Megaded
A Tribute to Megadeth (Dwell)
by Scott Hefflon
None can deny the impact Megadeth has had upon the metal world. Arguments about when they started to suck have raged since their second album, and many (myself included) take great pleasure in hating later, more popular records, while owning and playing them as much as the earlier, cherished material. So it was only a matter of time ’til Dwell decided to release a tribute to the band, seeing as they’ve done the same to Metallica, Slayer, Iron Maiden, and Celtic Frost. And, as usual, there’re a few moments of beauty, a lot of passages you liked before the tribute band fudged ’em, and, in general, a lot of bands you’ve never heard of doing covers of songs that were just fine before they touched them. A pleasure is Killswitch‘s take on “The Conjuring,” one of my faves as a fan and former guitarist of bad metal bands you’ve hopefully never heard of. Killswitch is a side-project of Flotsam and Jetsam, a semi-decent/semi-ignorable band from that time period whose main claim to fame is that Jason Newsted quit the band to join the soon-to-be-artsy Metallica.
The main thing wrong here is that, like it or not, Dave Mustaine has a very identifiable voice. His sneer may grate on your nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard, but at least you know it’s Dr. D. But the bands assembled here to pay homage (or rage, pillage, and slaughter) just don’t have that kind of charisma, much less talent. They can play the notes (sometimes), and they can sing the words (or growl in a chuckle-worthy “death voice”), but most of them just don’t capture any kind of meaning. And Megadeth, if they were good for anything, can be credited with being on the short list of bands who made rebel metal anthems out of hating the system for specific, mostly political, reasons that actually made sense, all the while providing solos and fills suburban metalheads could leap about playing air guitar to. Fatal Influence‘s cover of “Hook in Mouth” comes close enough to the original (like it’s a tough song) for repeated listenings, and seeing as its one of my faves (one a paddy wagon-full of metalheads sung at the top of their lungs), that’s saying something.
Bands: Darkside, Fury, Mind-Ashes, Skull Crusher, Fairlight, Habeas Corpus, Abhorrent, Wasteland, Pessimist, and Daemos.
(PO Box 39439 Los Angeles, CA 90039)
