Fino al 2004 le sorti dei Megadeth erano incerte: in effetti vari rumors davano come certo lo scioglimento del gruppo. Nel 2004, il disco "The System Has Failed" è riuscito ad allontanare le incertezze che vi erano attorno al gruppo di Mustaine.

Quest anno ha fatto la comparsa il nuovo album dei Megadeth: "United Abominations". Pur essendo un disco non comparabile ai fasti che furono con i ben più famosi "Peace Sells" e "Rust in Peace", risulta comunque apprezzabile dal punto di vista musicale e della produzione, da sempre caratteristiche immancabili per i Megadeth. Insomma, questo disco non è nulla di eclatante, ma gli arrangiamenti sono più che buoni, e la produzione eccellente. Come al solito la band di Mustaine & co., nonostante gli anni passati, si dimostra sempre meritevole di ascolto, grazie al proprio impegno per suonare con passione, e non per i puri introiti commerciali, come i Metallica (qualcuno ha detto St. Anger?) hanno dimostrato di fare.

Analisi delle tracce:

- 1. Sleepwalker: il brano viene iniziato con un arpeggio iniziale molto pacato e successivamente un crescendo di tastiere da inizio alla sfuriata degli strumenti, che si rivelano fin dall'inizio fedeli al vecchio, ma sempreverde thrash.

- 2. Washington is next!: d'ascolto sicuramente più facile e trascinante è questa seconda traccia, che risulta subito coinvolgente e di ottimo impatto. Probabilmente una delle due canzoni "commerciali" del disco.

- 3. Never walk alone...a call to arms: L'inizio struggente, in classico stile Megadeth, introduce una classica canzone da "Countdown to Extinction". Uno stupendo brano apprezzabile solo grazie all'ascolto.

- 4. United Abominations: nata con l'intento di essere canzone base del disco, ha fallito nel suo compito, risultando una delle due pecore nere del disco. Sia strofa che ritornello sono molto banali, privi di fantasia e inoltre poco trascinanti.

- 5. Gears of War: molto essenziale e minimalista, quanto minaccioso e oscuro è l'inizio della canzone scelta proprio per l'omonimo gioco per Xbox360. La fantasia ha un minimo sfogo nel finale dove i chitarristi hanno la possibilità di sbizzarrirsi con i loro strumenti.

- 6. Blessed are the dead: discreto brano, nulla di speciale.

- 7. Play for blood: una delle migliori del disco. Riff molto coinvolgenti e messi al posto giusto, al "secondo" giusto. Con un sound imponente, batteria e basso, accompagnano le due chitarre, la vera anima di questa canzone. Assolutamente da ascoltare.

- 8. A tout le monde (set me free): Questo pezzo, cantato da Mustaine con Cristina Scabbia (cantante dei Lacuna Coil) è un mal riuscito tentativo di riprendere la "A tout le monde" di "Youthanasia". Sicuramente il peggiore brano del disco, che mal suonato e mal arrangiato, risulta un brano "ultra-commerciale".

- 9. Amerikhastan: ottimo brano, con altrettanti ottimi assoli e riff, semplici e orecchiabili.

- 10. You're dead: senza infamia, e senza lode è il primo brano a due cifre del disco. Molto banale, ma almeno deve essere menzionata per essere il brano più veloce dell'intero album.

- 11. Burnt Ice: altra canzone anonima che, eccezion fatta per i ben arrangiati assoli, rimane sicuramente in secondo piano.

Voto del disco: 70/100

Elenco tracce testi e video

01   Sleepwalker (05:53)

I should be calling collect from jail
For the things I commit each night in my head
Like last night in my sleep I got to snuff you
But then I woke up again, safe in my little bed

No one is safe when I close my eyes; I come to take your life

I get to force your untimely disappearance
Each night in my dreams, when I'm fast asleep
I close my eyes and you just vanish soon as I
Lay down my head when I'm dead to the whole wide world

No one is safe when I close my eyes; I come to take your life
And then I wake up again and it was all just a dream
And everything is the same

Sleepwalker - Did I give you concrete shoes?
And throw you off of a bridge
Sleepwalker - When I lay down to sleep
Pray your soul's mine to keep, I feel you near me
Go to sleep, Sleepwalker

Just taking a stroll; don't go to sleep! Here's some toothpicks for your eyes!

You always make an excellent cadaver
I roll your body up in a carpet to make music in the
Trunk of my limousine, wrapped up in a rug
A fitting end, is that I send you up the river like a punk

No one is safe when I close my eyes; I come to take your life

The angel of death is pissed off at me again
Just because I got to put you out of my misery
It doesn't matter, I am without fear
Now you're dead, I won't shed another bloody tear for you

No one is safe when I close my eyes; I come to take your life
I'm calling down the thunder, then you'll sleep with the fishes
The answer to all of my wishes

Sleepwalker - Did I tell you I was in movies?
Then dump you garroted, lying naked in a ditch
Sleepwalker - Everyday, another way, I know you can hear me


I think you'd look nice in a Colombian necktie
Should stop your tongue from wagging the dog
No more stupidity from you, as I pull your tongue through
For a smile from ear to ear, now there's nothing to hear

No one is safe when I close my eyes; I come to take your life
And then I wake up and it was all just a dream
And everything is still the same

Sleepwalker - Did I give you concrete shoes?
And throw your body off of a bridge
Sleepwalker - When I lay down to sleep
Pray your soul is mine to keep, I feel you near me

Sleepwalker - Or did I tell you I was in movies?
Then dump you garroted, lying naked in a ditch
Sleepwalker - Everyday, another way, I know you can hear me

Sleepwalker - Did I buy you the farm?
Put a horse head in your bed
Sleepwalker - When I lay down to sleep
Pray your soul is mine to keep, I feel you near me

Sleepwalker - Everyday
Everyday another way
Sleepwalker - When I lay down to sleep
Pray your soul is mine to keep, I know you can hear me

02   Washington Is Next! (05:19)

The quiet war has begun with silent weapons
And the newest slavery is to keep the people
Poor and stupid, "Novus Ordo Seclorum"

How can there be any logic in biological war?
We all know this is wrong, but the New World Order's
Beating down the door, oh something needs to be done

There was a king, an evil king
Who dreamt the wickedest of dreams
An ancient mystery, no prophet could interpret
Of seven years of famine, the wolf is at my door
As predicted years ago, that that was, that is, that is no more
The word predicts the future and tells the truth about the past
Of how the world leaders will hail the new Pharaoh
The eighth false king to the throne; Washington is next!

Disengage their minds, sabotage their health
Promote sex and war, and violence in the kindergartens
Blame the parents and teachers; it's their fault, "Annuit Coeptis"
Attack the church dynamic, attack the family
Keep the public undisciplined till nothing left is sacred and
The "have-nots" get hooked and have to go to the "haves" just to cop a fix

I am the king, an evil king
Who dreams the wickedest of dreams
An ancient mystery, nobody could interpret
Of seven empires falling, the wolf is at my door
As predicted years ago, that that was, that is, that is no more
The word predicts the future and tells the truth about my past
Of how the world leaders are waiting to usher in
The eighth world power of modern Rome; Washington is next!

There was a king, an evil king
Who dreamt the wickedest of dreams
An ancient mystery, no prophet could interpret
Of seven empires fallen, the wolf is at my door
As predicted years ago, that that was, that is, that is no more

I am a king and I dream the wildest dreams
And nobody could interpret
Seven empires falling, the wolf is at my door
Ooh, that that was, that is, that is no more

There's something at my dooor, some anciet mystery
The future tells the truth about the past
And I'm the eighth false king to the throne
I've got you in my crosshairs, now, ain't that a bitch?

Washington, you're next!

03   Never Walk Alone... A Call to Arms (03:54)

04   United Abominations (05:35)

United Abominations
Music and Lyrics Dave Mustaine

Within striking distance from Ground Zero sits a smoldering international cauldron, the United “Abominations” as it were. Born to prevent wars, as if war was in the face of disaster, and stood silent while terrorization took hostage the world.

In a mire of hypocrisy, ignores sex crimes by its blue helmets, and enables terrorism, so in the end, it has failed. And the UN is where our so-called friends get to stab us in the back, and we pay 22% of their tab to host our enemies here at home.

Ambassadors from countries otherwise known as "The Catastrophe" enjoy Diplomatic immunity, living in Manhattan, while their children are turned into prostitutes. It’s a complete and utter disgrace! A blot on the face of humanity! And they get away with it!?!

Poverty in their kitchens
Held hostage by oil-for-food
Yet their own plates are full off the fat of their lands
There’s no blood on their hands, right Gojo?
They promised to tell the truth
Without leaving a fingerprint.
They will lose the UN one way or another.
The victim, I fear will be us, sisters and brothers!

The UN is right; you can’t be any more “un”
than you are right now, the UN is undone.
Another mushroom cloud, another smoking gun.
The threat is real, the Locust King has come.
Don’t tell me the truth; I don’t like what they’ve done.
It's payback time, at the United Abominations.

A grave and gathering danger
the decision to attack
based on secret intelligence, it’ll take years
I fear to undo the failings in Iraq.
You may bury the bodies
but you can’t bury the crimes.
Only fools stand up and really lay down their arms
No, not me, not when Death lasts forever

The UN is right; you can’t be any more “un”
Than you are right now, the UN is undone.
Another mushroom cloud, another smoking gun.
The threat is real, the Locust King has come.
Don’t tell me the truth; I don’t like what they’ve done.
It's payback time.

(Foriegn speakers talking)

The UN is right; you can’t be any more “un”
Than you are right now, the UN is undone.
Another mushroom cloud, another smoking gun.
The threat is real, the Locust King has come.

The UN is right; you can’t be any more “un”
Than you are right now, the UN is undone.
Another mushroom cloud, another smoking gun.
The threat is real, the Locust King has come.
Don’t tell me the truth; I don’t like what they’ve done.
It's payback time, at the United Abominations.

NATO invaded Yugoslavia to end ethnic cleansing, there was no UN.
The US invaded Afghanistan after 9/11, there was no UN.
Saddam Hussein violated 17 UN resolutions; The UN was asked to join the war in Iraq. The US invaded, there was no UN.
Libya bombed a discotheque in Berlin killing Americans, there was no UN.
Iran funds a mosque, and attacked the US in the seventies, there was no UN.
Facing war, without end, looking into the future.
There...was...no...more...UN!

05   Gears of War (04:25)

06   Blessed Are the Dead (04:02)

07   Play for Blood (03:49)

08   À tout le monde (Set Me Free) (04:11)

09   Amerikhastan (03:43)

Recruiting the ill-fated for "The War"
A legion of uneducated, bankrupt souls
With a lust for revenge, answering the call
From New Yorqatar to Califorabia

Desperation provides fertile ground for religious extremism
This glorious brainwashing where prejudice lies
Like a crouching tiger
Tormenting peasents till they erect an army
Under everyone's nose
In the end propaganda destroys their DNA, god help them

All that they envisioned of what things would come to be
Turned into a pink mist when they blew to smithereens
We are just a war away from Amerikhastan
When God versus god; the undoing of man

Promising a vapor, in the end they become one

No rules of engagement, this enemy hides
Amongst women and children
And to beat violence, you must ignore the focus groups
You must send in the Mossad, turn off the BBC, CNN
and don't look back
Rest assured there'll be no more Middle Eastern crisis, hell!
There'll be no more Middle East!

These are your people Lady Liberty
Pull up your dress today
And tattooed is "Property of the USA
A subsidiary of Halliburton"
Surprise?!
But a roaring lion is about to be unleashed on earth
Hey, Jihad Joe? Guess what? We're coming to get you!

All that you envision of what things will come to be
Turns into a death knell when you look behind the scenes
We are just a war away from Amerkhastan
When God versus god; the undoing of man

10   You're Dead (03:18)

11   Burnt Ice (03:48)

12   Out on the Tiles (04:03)

Carico i commenti...  con calma

Altre recensioni

Di  gemini

 La perfetta sintesi della carriera dei Megadeth: potenza thrash anni '80 e melodia heavy anni '90.

 Decisamente una delle migliori uscite dell'anno e della band stessa, degno di essere accostato a Rust in Peace e Countdown to Extinction.


Di  Goodwolf

 "Il disco parte benissimo con 'Sleepwalker', 'Washington is next' e 'Never walk alone'"

 "'United abominations' è un pezzo politico, che non mi esalta da nessun punto di vista."


Di  rg88metal

 I Megadeth la storia l'hanno scritta a caratteri cubitali, e lo hanno fatto alla grande fino a 10-15 anni fa.

 Il disco suona bene ma è un pò arido e monotono (salvo poche eccezioni) nelle parti riservate al pur bravissimo singer, il grande Mustaine.