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Band:Megadeth Album:United Abominations Record Company:Roadrunner Records Writer: Eric "CFH" Johnson Media: "A Tout Le Monde (Set Me Free)" Click Album Cover To Buy Now

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Thanks to the killer performance Megadeth put on in the Portland area two years ago, I knew that I was in for a good night on September 9. However, I was not looking forward to the openers, who unsurprisingly did not deliver.

The Confession led off the evening with horrible vocals, zero stage presence and guitar leads that screamed Arch Enemy rip-off.

Then came In This Moment, yet another uninspired, run-of-the-mill metalcore band, but at least Maria Brink was nice to look at.

Anyway, after what seemed to be an eternity, Megadeth took the stage and proceeded to deliver the type of onslaught I had hoped for. Incendiary opener “Sleepwalker” served as a perfect opener, scorching, semi-surprise “Take No Prisoners” kept the ball rolling and the pummeling “Wake up Dead” added more fuel to the fire. Unfortunately, that group of songs turned to out to the highlight of the evening.

Sure none of the songs from the fourth to the eighteenth were terrible, but many of them should not have made the set list for this tour. Which ones are they, you ask? “Symphony of Destruction,” “A Tout Le Monde,” “Never Walk Alone,” “Skin O’ My Teeth,” “Reckoning Day,” “In My Darkest Hour,” “Hangar 18,” “Holy Wars,” “Tornado of Souls” and “Peace Sells, but Who’s Buying?” First and foremost, “Symphony” should have been retired years ago, and unless Megadeth gets Lacuna Coil to tour with them at some point so that Christina Scabbia can add her vocals to “A Tout Le Monde,” it should be removed as well. From there, “Never Walk Alone” is easily the worst song on United Abominations, and is the only song on the album that actually falls short of greatness. Then there are “Skin O’ My Teeth” and “Reckoning Day,” which are good songs and all, but neither should have stayed in the set beyond the Countdown to Extinction and Youthanasia tours, respectively. Last but not least are the undisputed classics “Darkest Hour,” “Hangar 18,” “Holy Wars,” “Tornado” and “Peace Sells.” Yes, they are great songs, but they have been taking up space for WAY too long. Also, is it just me, or is an 18-song set far too short for a band that has written over 100 songs?

As for the other songs that were played, it’s nice to see that “She-Wolf” is still in the set, and is serving as the sole representative from Cryptic Writings since it is one of that disc’s most metal, even thrash-oriented tracks. “Kick the Chair” also marked a fine addition from The System Has Failed, and did nothing less than annihilate. United Abominations’ “Gears of War” and “Washington is Next” also earned their places in the set by crushing everything in their paths.

Now, since I’ve spent a majority of this review bitching about the set list, what do I think would be a better one, you ask? Well, for the past few years Megadeth has been making a point to acknowledge that they took a wrong turn during the late 90’s, and that they still are one of metal’s best bands. Sure they have delivered by releasing The System Has Failed and United Abominations and by playing flawless shows night after night. However, if they really want to take the metal world by storm again, why not mix up the set and play some of metal’s greatest gems that desperately need to be dusted off? What are some of these gems? Here’s a list:

“Last Rites/Loved to Death”
“Killing is My Business, and Business is Good”
“Skull Beneath the Skin”
“Looking Down the Cross”
“Mechanix”
“The Conjuring”
“Devil’s Island”
“Good Mourning/Black Friday”
“My Last Words”
“Mary Jane”
“502”
“Five Magics”
“Poison was the Cure”
“Architecture of Aggression”
“New World Order”
“Vortex”

If they would just devote one tour to playing that kind of a set, I guarantee that no fans would be left disappointed and end up saying “didn’t they play all of those songs the last three times I saw them?” It also wouldn’t hurt to play some killer, lesser known songs from United Abominations, such as “Blessed are the Dead,” “Play for Blood” and “You’re Dead.”

In closing, Megadeth released one of their best albums this year, they are just as great of a live band right now as they ever have been and a vast majority of the songs they’re playing on this tour sound tremendous, even though they’ve been played 23,492 times.

Band:Megadeth Album:United Abominations Record Company:Roadrunner Records Writer: Eric "CFH" Johnson Media: "A Tout Le Monde (Set Me Free)" Click Album Cover To Buy Now

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