A Review of the Album "the System Has Failed" by Megadeth: A Good Comeback Album

1. Blackmail the Universe
2. Die Dead Enough
3. Kick the Chair
4. The Scorpion
5. Tears in a Vial
6. I Know Jack
7. Back in the Day
8. Something That I’m Not
9. Truth Be Told
10. Of Mice and Men
11. Shadow of Deth (This is the way that the word in the song is spelled).
12. My Kingdom

The System Has Failedis the 2004 album by American heavy metal band Megadeth. It is also the first album by the band since Dave Mustaine’s arm injury. This album can be considered mostly a solo effort because most of the musicians performing on the album are session musicians. Guitarist Chris Poland makes a return appearance for the album and contributes quite nicely for the lead guitar parts. We must give Dave credit here because he has redeemed himself after such a poor effort on the album Risk. At least that's what I have thought about that album for years but they have worse albums than that one. I sometimes wondered whether he was losing his musical creativity because of all the alcohol and drug abuse that plagued him. Well this album shows that he still has creativity left in him after all. The thrash elements that we were used to hearing on the band’s first four albums returns for this one especially on the song Kick The Chair.

By this point in their careers, Metallica has had the upper hand on Megadeth. This is not an article comparing the two bands but in the view of this writer, Megadeth has not surpassed Metallica in greatness and we are not even talking about overall CD sales. So, the thing is that by 2004, Megadeth had 3 sub-par or bad albums and Metallica had zero bad albums.

The song Kick the Chair is about the flaws of the US justice system. Someone has been wrongly accused of a crime yet they will be going to jail because of it. The song points out the flaws of the justice system and we can even see these flaws today as minorities are singled out by law enforcement. One of my first favorite songs is Die Dead Enough as the lead guitar work is excellent! The Scorpion is a song about a creature that lives to commit sinful acts. Prince of Darkness on the Risk album is another song that makes reference to other evil creatures. The System Has Failed clearly beats any album that had been released in the last ten years prior except for The World Needs a Hero in 2001. Youthanasia was by this point in time was a distant memory. After that sub-par mainstream effort followed by two worse albums, this one clearly is a good rebound kind of album.

Tears in a Vial is about someone who has to let go of the person that they love for what they loved even more. He could not afford to keep the relationship going. Megadeth has covered the subject before such as in songs like 1,000 Times Goodbye. I Know Jack is just kind of like a 40 second sound bite that has some narration that should not belong on this album.

After an average song such as Something That I’m Not, we are introduced to Truth Be Told. The song is about the beginning of sin in this world. Since Cain killed Abel, it has set a kind of precedent that shows the flaw of human beings. With death, we must part from this world whether we like it or not. Most of us would rather not think about the fact that we are going to expire but this is the reality. Of Mice and Men is about someone who is having fun and having a little too much to drink yet he is not able to find any friends. He wonders how he is still alive when he turns 25. A lifestyle of constant drinking will lead to disaster as has been seen so many times. It is important to be responsible if you are going to have a drink. Overall, The System Has Failed is a decent album and a return to what we are used to hearing from this longtime band. The strongest songs in the album are Die Dead Enough, The Scorpion, Tears in a Vial, Blackmail the Universe, Truth Be Told and Kick the Chair. This writer gives the album an 80 out of 100 points. This is a solid return album for Mustaine and company!