Megadeth : "the Sick, the Dying, .. And the Dead ! "

 Dave Mustaine is the sole original member of the band after allowing Dave Ellefson to be cancelled.  Ellefson's bass tracks were re-recorded by Testament bassist Steve Di Giorgio. Also, on the band's 16th album Angra Guitarist Pedro and Dirk from Soilwork.  It is still in the thrashing style of the band, though things are so cleanly produced that it takes a great deal of the edge out of their sound. "Night Stalkers" finds the guitars getting more aggressive, but the same cannot be said by Mustaine's vocal, which so far for the first three songs have been largely spoken, the first really stab at singing is on the "Night Stalkers" chorus. Ice-T's cameo is sparse, as it should be. 

The first song that feels like they are not just peddling watered down attempts at re-booting "Rust in Peace" is one "Dogs of Chernobyl". It is a more honest and melodic effort. It does build into the palm muted tension of thrash. I cannot believe the producer let the vocal take on "Sacrifice" find its way in this state to the final album. The vocals are awkward, in their phrasing and the terrible lyrics contribute to this. "Junkie" sounds like a cross between a "Countdown to Extinction"   b-side and Def Leppard. An improvement considering the previous song.  "Killing Time" could have been better if the vocals were not given such a dry production. This continues to be a problem with the album as the guitars sound great and the vocals largely ignored in the final mixing. 

"Soldier On" just kinda chugged by without leaving much of an impression.  He takes a shot at today's social media influences with "Celebutante", which ends up being a pretty decent song. The guitar harmonies on this album are pretty dialed in. Things get a little darker on the more brooding " Mission to Mars' which is the direction this album needed to head to begin with. This album has been six years in the making, so packed with thirteen there is a larger margin for error when it comes to filler. It seems like the best songs are packed into the second half. The more technical speed metal feel that carries a tighter sound than thrash can be heard on "We'll Be Back" which works pretty well. The band's legacy haunts them in the best way on this song. None of the guitar solos on this album touch Marty Friedman's work, but the solos are plentiful. They also shift through a barrage of really cool riffs on this song. 

"Police Truck" has some interesting guitar sounds that break away from what you might expect, though the lyrics are pretty dumb".   "This Planet's on Fire" has Mustaine trying harder to sing since Sammy Hagar is also on this track.  It reminds me early 90s AC/DC.  I will give this album an 8.5 , it has some strong moments, but this band's first four album's really raised the bar high and some of the cheese could have been trimmed the solos more purposeful and the vocals given more love, other than that if you are a Megadeth fan you can round this up to a 9, if Dave can do no wrong, but that might not be the most objective listen,     

Death of Kings : " Kneel Before None "

In the past I never felt the other recorded efforts by this Atlanta band were accurate representations of what this band really does on stage.

Death Angel : "the Evil Divide"

2016 is the year the kings of metal return triumphantly to prove themselves. Anthrax, Metal Church and Flotsam & Jetsam have all had strong showing challenging the less than mediocre stuff bands like Slayer have been releasing in recent years. Death Angel is throwing their name in for a crown with their new album. Rob and Mark might be the only original members, but They come on fast and furious with a quick burst of punk fueled thrash. Solos burn out from every crack of this mean machine. Always capable of this kind of aggression this band was one of the first to see the writing on the wall in the late 80s and cross over into a more alternative form of metal. This line up which finds Anglo blood in the mix has been intact for three albums now. It seems more dynamic than the few I have heard in-between this and the 14 year break they took after "Act 3".  When the band split with Mark to form the Organization in the 90's the certainly got more punchy than they were on "Act 3".

 There is a more melodic slant to "Lost" that proves Mark still has the pipes. They don't linger on that for long with spit fire vocals to "Father of Lies" snarling over the jagged thrash riffs. The thrash keeps coming with the frantic that is tightly executed, but not the album's most memorable moment. There new bassist might not be Gus Peppa, but they do manage to lock into a pretty convincing groove on "It Can't Be This" that finds a perfect balance of aggression meeting hooks.  The drumming courtesy of Will Carroll who has played with every one from Machine Head to Vicious Rumors to Hammers of Misfortune, is dialed in to perfection on this track and impressive through out. The color by numbers thrash metal of "Hatred United" is not as impressive, but remains high energy. There is the more hard core side of thrash on "Breakaway", which I find less interesting than the album's more groove oriented moments. His more melodic moments show up here and there, but he is in a higher pitched thrash bark for the bulk of the album.

There is a little nuance added to the song writing on "the Electric Cell", but heaviness seems to be a major priority here.The powerful of the big closer "Let the Pieces" is both fun and heavy. It gives Mark room to sing and plenty of space for solos to coming flying out at you. I'll round this one up to an 8. Death Angel were once more concerned with being original than the the fastest thrash going, and this album doesn't live up to their legacy in that regard and maybe have been the result of the original members balancing one another out. This album keeps up with the rest of the pack, so now we are just waiting to see if Testament can bring it.