No matter how much of a fan of a band you are, there comes a time when brutal honesty is best. After all, you know them about as well as it's possible to know anyone, and you love them more than certain members of your own family! So, when time starts insistently knocking on the door and pointing at its wrist, there's a reason that the fan is the first one to suggest answering. And as a true fan of Dave Mustaine and Megadeth (and presumably you are too, reading this) it's no shame to admit that time is definitely knocking. Dave knows this too, hence this being Megadeth's final album and the catalyst for the band's final world tour, which will be stretched thinly across the next couple of years, like butter scraped over too much bread.

Tolkien's metaphor, sadly, holds just as true for Megadeth, the band's self-titled seventeenth full-length; it feels thin and insubstantial, containing strong moments but many more reminders of a much stronger past. Dave's voice is the worst it has ever been - which we can understand and forgive, the man is 64 and has recently beaten throat cancer. What is less easy to forgive, or even understand, is a poor production from frequent collaborator Chris Rakestraw which pushes said vocals upfront, hides the bass and robs the drums of any punch. This should be a final hurrah, a rampage through history and a loving goodbye to fans; instead of what it is, a half-baked trudge that lacks energy and feels downright tired.

There are highlights, true, and from the start of the album; Tipping Point barrels along nicely with thrash energy and vim, some of the album's best lead guitars from new addition Teemu Mäntysaari (also of Wintersun) and is followed well by the punky I Don't Care. This would be easy to mock in isolation for its angry teenager lyrics and simplistic chugging yet in its place in the album it keeps the energy up well. Much worse is Hey God?! which if we're being kind comes over as a b-side from 90s Megadeth - and if we're not is painful Christian rock. You'd be forgiven for expecting the band's final album to take something from every era, yet it does seem as though more attention should have been given to the classic early 'Deth era rather than The World Needs a Hero-esque offcuts like Puppet Parade and Another Bad Day!

Sadly, comparing any of the material on Megadeth to past albums is going to make it look worse, even to objectively bottom-tier albums. The likes of Let There Be Shred and Made to Kill are notable more by their rarity, being the kind of widdly Rust In Peace-esque workout that, especially post-Endgame, we know Dave is capable of providing. It's infuriating that he barely ever does! Throughout this album the musicianship is fine to superb, particularly Mäntysaari and perpetually-underrated drummer Dirk Verbeuren, yet the writing usually lets it down, leaving us with utterly below-average pieces like Obey the Call and I Am War that are only listenable thanks to the quality of the musicians providing the instrumental sections that just about rescues what would otherwise be classifiable as shit.

It would be hard to tell that this is Megadeth's final album, were it not for The Last Note, a self-congratulatory mid-paced piece with possibly the best lyrics on the album, speaking of being worn down by the road - "So here's my last note, my final testament, my sneer/I came, I ruled, now I disappear" Not a bad way to sign off your final album... except Megadeth albums generally have a song dealing with finality and ending things - Die Dead Enough, How the Story Ends, Thirteen just some examples, and all are better songs than this. Unfortunately, the album actually ends with the truly baffling decision to end the album with a perfectly average cover of Ride the Lightning that, you guessed it, has poor vocals and solid instrumentation!

It's so psychologically revealing that Dave wanted to end his band by reminding everyone of the permanent Metallica-shaped chip on his shoulder, particularly given the existence of many, many Megadeth fans like your reviewer who love Metallica but tend to find more depth with Dave and wish he'd just get the fuck over it! When you think of all that Megadeth have been through, all the drugs, dead ex-members, the darkness and torment that fuelled this metal institution from start to the imminent end, it's not hard to see alternate ways of closing the Megadeth book without bringing it all back to the endless Metallica feud that has driven Dave's sense of inferiority for decades. Honestly, it rather spoils the effect of what is otherwise a solid if distinctly below-average Megadeth album, when all is said and done - certainly not bottom three in any discography ranking but definitely not to be remembered as one of the better albums from Dave's pen. As a farewell to the band, it just about passes muster, but as a tribute to the band's history, a best-of would have been a better decision than this.