First thing that strikes me is that this is far more fun than most of Megadeth's output. The songs are more upbeat and to the point than Dave's day job, less technical and more in-your-face. That said, it still sounds like Megadeth a BIT. "The Day The Music Died" could have come straight off Cryptic Writings, and the bridge reminds me a bit of a modern-day Megadeth song, something off of The System Has Failed, and I believe that, if this was released as a Megadeth single, it would've done very well, better than Trust probably.
"Fight Hate" starts with Take No Prisoners-style call and reply shouty vocals, and sounds like Mustaine's covering a Motorhead song. I also especially love the sitar midsection, akin to Holy Wars, and the more harsh "UGH"s Mustaine unleashes on this song, but the "Something's different" refrain grates a bit. But ironically, this song has some of the most megadeth-y lyrics, especially nowadays Megadeth, but the lyrics weren't written by Mustaine, they were written by Lee Ving.
After this, it all descends into mediocrity, Designer Behaviour has a baffling chorus which is annoying, while The Creed is not bad, but it starts out very boring and can't really pick up. It reminds me of something off of Youthanasia or Countdown, 2 of Megadeth's weakest records, but overall it's not bad. The rest of this album is all a bit non-descript, but good nonetheless. There's nothing remotely bad about these songs, but by now, the novelty of Mustaine playing this sort of stuff has worn off, and you may tend to get a bit sick of it. "No Pain" is the highlight of the second half of this album definitely, but even this still sounds the same to the rest of this stuff, just better executed. It's a nice, fast thrashy headbanger of a song and I really like it.
The bonus tracks are of absolutely no use to anyone. Chutney is unbelievably boring, it basically consists of Dave going "From my mother I am torn" over and over again and, although we're warned not to take Segue seriously, it's still pretty pointless, basically consisting of 3 little snippets or jams that Mustaine felt should've been on the album. That said, I would rather have these than the pointless live tracks or remixes which furnished the other re-masters. The third song, a version of The Creed, played by the Countdown-era line-up of Megadeth is fairly interesting. It is a different beast from the MD. 45 version, and is interesting to see, and is a nice inclusion on the disc, but it's still pretty boring.
In conclusion, this is a good album, if a bit samey. After a while, you might get bored but there is nothing bad about this record. Although a departure for Dave, it still has hints of Megadeth about it, and various songs are referenced. This is a good album to put on when your having a party or are getting drunk with friends. It's good old-fashioned headbanging music, and serves it's best purpose as background music, but not something to be held under close scrutiny. As a Megadeth album, it isn't essential, but can hold it's ground against most of the other albums. This should be near the bottom of your shopping list, but you should definitely buy it if you find a copy, because it still is a good listen.
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