FILE under: side project. The principle players in this record are Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine and Lee Ving,
frontman with LA punk’s premier nasty boys, Fear. The alloted roles are as follows: Dave Mustaine plays a
mean guitar, Lee Ving sings.
The first thing you’ll notice is that this is a band who sound nothing like either Megadeth or Fear.
Anyone expecting a power chord bombast of atomic hardcore or even a return to Megadeth’s formative speed
metal gnarl will be, at best, suprised or, at worst, dissapointed. Or at least at first they will. But
subsequent listens to this LP will definitely affirm one thing: that Dave Mustaine has once again found
his ability to surprise and shock. Wherever you’re coming from, MD.45 will sound nothing like you expect,
and this has to be a good thing.
Another good thing is that Mustaine isn’t singing; instead he’s given this role to Lee Ving who, quite
frankly, has one of the best singing voices this side of a Chicago blues jam. This leaves Dave free to
play the guitar, and here he plays the meanest rhythm guitar this side of a man who was once in Metallica.
Give it a few spins and the result are pretty damn brilliant: high energy chunks or rifferama that sound
neither punk nor metal, but just groove in a way that hit the spotlike nothing tha has preceded it. A
compelling curveball.
This review was made by Ian Winwood