'Deth frontman Dave Mustaine promised a back-to-basics album for the band's first platter since 1999's 'Risk' and that's exactly what 'The World Needs A Hero' delivers.
From the opening crunching guitars of 'Disconnect', this is the sound of Megadeth as honed on thrash classics like 1986's 'Peace Sells…But Who's Buying' and 1990's 'Rust In Peace'.
Mustaine's trademark sneer is very much in evidence, particularly on the title track where he plays the businessman with no time on his hands. '1000 Times Goodbye' features a woman breaking it off with her lover by phone pitched against Mustaine extolling the virtues of getting shot of her in no uncertain terms.
New guitarist Al Pitrelli, on his recorded debut, acquits himself admirably, providing screaming axe solos in the vein of predecessor Marty Friedman but also adding some soulful flamenco-style touches to the string-bolstered ballad 'Promises' and the bone-jarring 'Recipe For Hate…Warhorse'.
As a final riposte to those who claim he's gone soft, Mustaine even concocts a sequel to 1990's seminal 'Hangar 18'. 'Return To Hangar' is a pretty straightforward rewrite but worth it alone for the immortal lines "Military intelligence/Is still two words that can't make sense".
Call it anachronistic but, shorn of the superfluous instrumental 'Silent Scorn' and the ponderous closer 'When', this is as good an album as Megadeth fans could want their heroes to produce and proves they can still mix it with the young upstarts on the articulate side of the metal street.
