Shitty Albums by Great Bands Part IV: ‘Risk’ By Megadeth

Anyone familiar with metal will know that Megadeth is brainchild of Dave Mustaine, who created the band after being kicked out of Metallica in 1983. During his stint with the latter band, Mustaine created that lightning fast, palm-muted and uber-complicated metal guitar sound which you hear countless bands copying. When he formed Megadeth, Mustaine wanted to top Metallica in every way, from technicality to songwriting. In my books he succeeded despite having vastly inferior sales (which mean nothing from a musical standpoint, of course), the music snob in me will point to the how complex and unique the compositions are. Most people laugh when I try to point out the jazz element in some metal music but I’ll go on record saying that Dave Mustaine’s compositions are highly jazz-like, I’ve also heard interviews which claim seeing Megadeth live is like “watching a jazz band” (from the documentary ‘Get Thrashed’). Megadeth was probably the earliest of metal bands to incorporate a jazzy style of playing: with the idiosyncratic melodies, time signature changes and whatnot. While someone could say that a lot of metal is just a spammage of power chords (the crappier glam metal, that is), it’s musicians like Mustaine which keep me addicted to the uber-complexity of the genre. Obviously being technical doesn’t make a band good (see Dragonforce, who are all speed and no heart, if that makes any sense) but I feel that Mustaine is one of the greatest composers in the history of rock music. But wait…what does all that have to do with the 1999 album Risk? Well absolutely nothing, as it basically ditches all the good stuff I just mentioned.

There’s the two covers, depending on which issue you got. You know, for an album with a title like that, I don’t detect anything risque. The cover on the left just simply sucks ass, it’s full of empty space and a mouse trap. It’s not even aesthetically presentable. The one on the right is a little better, although only for the sake of comparison. It’s still an uncreative image with obvious symbolism. Mouse and mousetrap…risky right? These covers just seem sterile and lame, especially when compared to other Megadeth albums.

As you probably know, a band experimenting with their sound can have mixed results. You ‘risk’ alienating the fan base, becoming pretentious, blah blah blah. In the 90′s, Megadeth sort of abandoned their jazz-like thrash sound in favor of more…radio friendly approach. They have some good records in this sound (see 1992′s Countdown to Extinction) but this particular album Risk basically acts a blueprint of ‘what not to do’ when changing your sound. Rather than evolve creatively, Megadeth sounds toned down, jejune, anti-technical, and god forbid they swim into the waters of…alternative rock (the thought of which sends chills down my spine). The title is so bloody ironic, this being significantly less risky than the stuff they put out in the 1980′s.

What most people remember (and subsequently bitch about) on Risk is the fourth track, ‘Crush ‘Em’. Not only is the most infamous track in the history of Megadeth, it is also one of the most notorious metal tunes of all time. Guitar World went so far as including it in the top ten of their “Worst Riffs, Licks and Solos” list. Allow me to explain a little bit, I’ve looked at interview with Mustaine and I’ve attempted to get to the bottom of this song. Dave Musty was trying to create an athem-like song influenced by golden age hockey songs, a song specifically crafted to play at sporting events. This whole ‘risk’ results in one of the most bizarre songs ever: with a weird funky bass line, lyrics about arenas, one of those irritating/catchy riffs that sticks in your head despite being horrible. You get the picture. I’ll link it later…the hockey anthem made by the 80′s thrash band.

There’s some innovation to be found on Risk but the vast majority of the album is just dull and lazy. What would possess Dave Mustaine to experiment with grungy alt-rock and hockey anthems? I always Megadeth materpieces like Peace Sells and Rust In Peace for the enigmatic song structures, clever political lyrics, all that jazz. Risk takes no musical ‘risks’ and plays it by the books, eschewing the experimentation and compensating in bloated, comatose wankery. The one thing going for it? It’s not as bad as St.Anger.

2.5 out of 5

Here’s that weird sports song I was complaining about, complete with an equally dumb video that I never actually watched until now. WARNING: do not let anybody catch you watching this, it’s really embarrassing.