Super Collider

[Thelemech]

Listening to this album and I think it is better than it's reputation
Anyone else like this critically panned album 🤔

Or is it just as bad as I thought it was all those years ago

[Zzzptm]

I will need to spin this one tomorrow to answer that question.

[Zzzptm]

I've never heard the album before, so this is a 100% fresh take on my first hearing of the album, start to finish.

Here's my spin info:

KINGMAKER: nice, strong thrasher, I'm into it.

SUPER COLLIDER: The chorus of the song looks back to the 70s for its flavor, unexpected but not baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad at all.

BURN!: Back to the thrash, and I'm enjoying it, as well. The chorus borrows a tad of funk, and that is fine with me. I can see why purists expecting another Peace Sells would be disappointed with this album after the first 3 tracks, but this is doing the job for me, yeah.

BUILT FOR WAR: I like this one, as well. And I've listened to some *really bad* albums that came out recently, so I'm all set to pan a track I don't like, but we're 4/4 on tunes here. Now, I'm not getting electrified by any of them so far, but I'm not wanting to skip any tracks, either. If this was released last year, I think it would be on my top 10 list with what I have heard so far. I truly don't get the reviews that panned it and then praised Dystopia, the albums are not that far off the mark from each other.

OFF THE EDGE: Hmmm... am I hitting a soft patch in the album?

DANCE IN THE RAIN: Not liking this one, the drumming in the intro is a bit of a beatdown. Gets better about halfway through, and then back to the drumming I'm not liking. It's not bad enough for me to skip over it, so it's all right enough. But I'm going to need something like the first four again to reverse this streak. Hang on, is the last part of the song still part of the song? Whoooooooaaaaa

BEGINNING OF SORROW: Hmmmm... this is a unique tune, caught me off guard, but grew on me quickly. Approve.

THE BLACKEST CROW: Oof, they're doing a country metal song? I can see this one leading to revolt among Megadeth purists. I'm more a fan of 1970s Outlaw Country, so this isn't a mix I'm enjoying here. This middle third of the album I'm overall not pleased with.

FORGET TO REMEMBER: Home stretch time and the opening riff here shows strong promise. It's formulaic, perhaps, but it's a good formula and the band delivers good performances. Yeah, we're back to good stuff here.

DON'T TURN YOUR BACK: Wow, loving this track!

COLD SWEAT: Great choice of cover, final third ends the album strongly.

OK, so it loses its way in the middle, but finds its way back home to the hard rock. It's a good album, overall, but I can see myself skipping the middle four and concentrating on the first 4 and last 3.

[Thelemech]

I agree with you on several songs.
Certainly not the best of their efforts but I am learning to like this

I wonder what Charger thinks of it

[Charger]

Charger thought this when the album came out:


Megadeth is Built For War with Super Collider!

Megadeth is still one of the few bands that actually put out albums on a steady basis…It’s been two years since the release of one of their best albums ever, Thirteen and naturally expectations have been very high for Super Collider, since it’s the second in a row to feature the same suberb line up of both Mega-Dave’s accompanied by the absolutely brilliant lead guitarist Chris Broderick and furious drummer Shawn Drover.

First and foremost I need to say that this is a very different album than Thirteen…actually a very different from any other Megadeth album. Mr. Mustaine himself has mentioned that he specifically wanted to make a different sounding album and knew that some people might not like it, but he also doesn’t want to keep doing the same album over and over again, which is more than commendable especially nowadays.

Super Collider has an almost hard rock oriented sound instead of the thrash assault that some might have been expecting. But don’t get me wrong there are some strong thrashy songs here as well, like the opening track Kingmaker which balances in between classic heavy metal and thrash, and especially the full blown thrash assault of Built For War, which also is without a doubt one of the album’s best tracks. The others are more of mix between various styles, which might not have worked, but for some reason Megadeth has found a way to put all those different sounds into a coordinated whole.

One thing that strikes out from the album right away is the amount of absolutely suberb song intros. Songs like Burn, which has a fantastic fast paced guitar solo intro, The Blackest Crow, the almost funky and medieval sounding acoustic intro is probably the greatest intro Megadeth has ever done, also I need to emphasize that it is another true highlight of the album, Forget To Remember, which starts off with a very groovy rather silent guitar and Don’t Turn Your Back which again starts off acoustically and softly before launching into the fast and furious verse.
It’s clear that Dave and the boys have had their a-game faces on when contemplating about how to introduce the songs.

Another song that deserves a special mentioning is the brilliant Dance In The Rain which starts off with a soft spoken lyric and slowly picks up momentum just to slow down again to another spoken verse and finally launching into a full throttle thrash monster… without a doubt the second best track on the album, a truly magnificent epic, and Megadeth manages to pull it all off under 5 minutes which is quite the achievement.

Also I need to return once more to The Blackest Crow, which has risen to the top of the heap here. The acoustic/slide guitar intro alone makes this song stand out as one of true Megadeth classics even though it sounds like nothing the band has ever done. This is the way you create something new and make it work better than the old! Also Dave’s vocal melody is nothing short of perfect. I would have never ever thought that I’d be praising the ballad-type song as the best song off the album, but The Blackest Crow surely is just that.

But all’s not just positive on this one either. There is the title track, which sadly is the weakest song on the album. It has a very commercial sound to it and it never really picks up any momentum and the band just seems to slide through the song without really putting any effort into it. This was the first single and is sadly probably the reason the album has gotten so much negativity. Since the album is a hell of a lot better than the indication given by this track. Also probably because of this track, the album’s been compared to one of the saddest chapters of Megadeth’s history: Risk, again that has no merit what so ever if you actually listen to the whole album. Let me make it clear to everyone now: This album does not sound ANYTHING like Risk.

Burn is another song, despite the brilliant guitar solo intro and the rather interesting pyromaniac point of view lyrics that doesn’t quite elevate as high up as the intro promises.
Off The Edge is another rather bland one. Not necessarily a bad song, but it doesn’t really evoke any strong emotions either. Also the vocal melody leaves something to be desired.

The album closes off with a stellar version of Thin Lizzy’s Cold Sweat. Megadeth has truly made this song their own, yet keeping rather loyal to the original, which is not an easy task.

All in all this album has a lot going on and you need to have a bit more of an open mind when listening to this, than lets say to Rust In Peace or Peace Sells.
But the good more than outweighs the bad or more accurately the mediocre. Had Dave put little bit more effort on the title track and made it bit less commercial sounding, this album would have been received much better, I would say. But this is still a solid effort from mr. Mustaine and the boys and just the mere fact that Dave still wants to put out new music on steady basis, do some courageous experimentation and keep touring as much as Megadeth does is more than commendable, since they could easily fall into the nostalgia act that some of the big thrash kings have become.

* * * ½



After reading it again after all these years I still agree with all of it.

The title track is the weakest song on the album. The Blackest Crow is probably still my favourite...either that or Kingmaker.

I've always said this album is waay better than it's reputation. People just kind of wanted to hate this one especially since it came after a quite a brilliant and well recieved album.
And it didn't help that the first song they put out was the title track which was from the bottom of the barrel.


It was interesting to read zzz's fresh takes on the songs...eventhough we don't see eye to eye on this one all too much.

[Thelemech]

Great and thorough review 👏
Thanks for sharing Charger

When I first heard the album I was put off but over the years I have come back to it and I think it is safe to say that I like it

Oh and I agree about the title track being the weakest song

[Charger]

Thanks bud. That was still when I enjoyed writing those reviews!

I'm glad you've found out that the album grew on you. I wonder how many others might feel the same way...?

[Zzzptm]

It's a strong album, through and through. I really don't get why it would get so heavily panned when there are so many strong tracks on the album.

Charger's review is more evidence that while we don't always have the same reasons, we often have the same conclusions about an album being good.

[Thelemech]

I can remember reading reviews calling the album worse than Risk
Even though at the beginning of hearing it I was slightly on the fence I still knew it was better than Risk

A few years ago I would listen to it here and there and it has definitely grown on me since then

[Zzzptm]

Put it this way, I had a fun listen, so I'm glad you asked the question. Usually the sign of a good album.