Here's Part 1 if you haven't read it! =D
Part 1: Dialectic Chaos/This Day We Fight!

Ok, guys, I finally found the time to write the second entry to this review. Some of you may have waited a lot, some of you may have not, I just hope someone buys Endgame driven by this review. If that happens I'll be happy enough. But enough blabbering, let us cut right to the chase! As I said I won't be reviewing 1320' since I already did a blog on that (if you wanna read it I linked it after the 44 Minutes review), so tracks 3 and 5 are up on this part.

*Note: I'll be making several references to the band members, just so you know:
-Dave Mustaine: Rhythm Guitar/Lead Vocals
-Chris Broderick: Lead Guitar
-Shawn Drover: Drums
-James Lomenzo: Bass

44 MINUTES


After the badass speedfest that is This Day We Fight we get a not-so-fast track with a great level of epicness. The song narrates a shootout in North Hollywood that happened in 1997 where 2 robbers engaged in a firefight against LAPD Police Officers. The robbers carried fully automatic rifles that were able to pierce through the Police's armor and wore armor that the officer's handguns couldn't penetrate. After a while a SWAT team arrived with enough firepower to defeat the robbers. That's basically it. As I said, the song isn't as fast as your standard Megadeth track, it seems like pulled out from albums like Countdown To Extinction or Youthanasia, where they lost some speed but made up with heaviness. The solos are brutal, simply mindblowing. Broderick definitely delivers on this one. The riffing is fantastic, with a very catchy melody and some heavy riffs that add power to the whole song. It's overall a great song, not one of my favorites off of this album (I'm a speed-***** when it comes to Megadeth, what can I say) but I can see how it'd be appealing to a bigger audience than your regular speed-fest.

ANALYSIS

The song starts with the melody I talked about before, very catchy and powerful. It's one of those melodies that South American audiences sing while in concerts (I.E.: Fear of The Dark by Iron Maiden), it has that kind of vibe, which is awesome because I love it when that happens. A police officer starts talking over the melody just before the rhythm guitar enters accompanied by Drover's snare, the rhythm guitar riff doesn't cover the whole thing, though, only segments. This adds a lot more epicness to the song, I think. The melody continues with a harmony until the verse riff starts playing.

The verses start with a riff that is very similar to the rhythm one in the intro. The drum-beat is slow but appropriate, it gives the song the right tempo so people can head-bang perfectly. Lomenzo's bass work is very noticeable, he sounds amazing, since the guitar doesn't cover the whole thing, rather it pauses at some points. Mustaine's vocals are top-notch, sounding great even though he's singing really low notes. The verse ends with a pick-slide that will pierce through your soul, kinda like Sweating Bullets takes you to the chorus.

The chorus is pretty simple. The guitar consists of the intro melody for the lead and some power chords for the rhythm. The drum beat is pretty simple, fits the chorus well but not very remarkable. What I love about this chorus are the lyrics, they remind me of how great Mustaine's songwriting skills are. "Outgunned, watching 'The Force' come to a firefight with a pocketknife" this is the kind of phrases you'll find in this chorus. Definitely the best way to tell this shootout story. I'd suggest you go read the lyrics after you're done with this. Anyway, the second half of the chorus gets a guitar harmony for the melody and it ends leading to...

Solo 1 - Chris Broderick

A fast lick that starts with some insane shredding and ends with 3 sustained notes is repeated twice in different pitches, then a similar, kind of slower lick plays in a lower pitch and a last lick that intends to finish the voyage down the neck ends with a low sustained note. Short but sweet, we can definitely feel Broderick's professionalism here, he definitely is a badass and deserves all the credit he gets.

After this solo the verse plays again, followed by another chorus. After this we get the real solos:

Solo 2 - Chris Broderick

A mid-paced melody that starts low on the neck and ascends thanks to some well placed sweep-pickings. The same mid-paced melody continues, nothing fancy, just hitting some notes that form a cool sound but not much shredding. Then he plays a lick that relies on one note that plays in between every note played, kinda like in Castlevania's Bloody Tears. The solo ends with a fast sweep picking that goes up and down in a hasty manner. A solid solo, not very fast but gets the job done and it shows that Broderick has some versatility up his sleeve.

Solo 3 - Dave Mustaine

Dave repeats the same lick alternating between pitches in a very thrashy manner solid start that adds some power to the solo. After this he tremolo-picks some notes and does some constant hammer-ons/pull-offs to emphasize on them. Then he plays a lick that goes from low to high and then to low again very fast to end the solo. A solid solo that doesn't feel a lot like Mustaine since he's not shredding to death, but overall pretty cool.

Solo 4 - Chris Broderick

Some fast palm-muted notes play through the neck while Chris slowly ascends. The first half of this solo is ended by a sweet lick that leads us to the high-pitched notes of the neck. Then he plays some notes in a very melodic way and ends the solo with a fast-as-hell alternate-picking that concludes in one last high pitched sustained note. A great solo with a lot of power: The melody is there, the variety is there, the insane shredding is there... It's just a pretty complete solo.

After the solos we listen to the chorus again, which takes us to one last riff that consists of basically the verse riff with some added palm-muted notes to fill the blanks. This added notes get a harmony that ascends through the neck, changing the pitch of said riff. This takes us to the climax of the song: The last solo.

Solo 5 - Chris Broderick

The solo consists of only one lick that repeats while ascending through the neck. He plays some notes that go up the neck right before he throws us a fast shred with palm-muted notes that returns to low-pitched notes. After that he ends the lick ascending again, only adding a noticeable slide in the middle and then returning again with the fast palm-muted notes. He plays the lick a certain number of times and the song ends with one last segment of the verse riff.

*If you want to read the 1320' review blog, click here.

BITE THE HAND


Ah... Bite The Hand... This song is REALLY good! The intro riff is catchy and engaging, the song is aggressive and powerful, like a smack to the face; the drumming, consequently, is pretty fast and the solos are beast (What else can you expect from Chris Broderick?). Anyway, this song is basically a critique to the leaders of the financial system and how because of how broken it is people need to bite the hand that feeds. It's definitely one of the album's high points, it's not currently in the set-list of the tour but I hope it gets in there soon. I love this one because it's fast and slow, the contrast is there which gives the song a lot of different areas. The guitar work is amazing, especially in the solo department (but the riffing is great too, especially in the verses). A great song that deserves to be paired with the big ones!

ANALYSIS

We start with the main riff, which consists of the same melody repeated over and over while Drover just follows with his drums. After 2 times of that the real drumming begins over the same riff. This riff is very powerful, by the way, it will get stuck in your face fast if you're not careful. When the drum enters the riff changes up a little, by switching some notes with full power-chords.

After this the verse starts and BOY! What a verse! I mean, this is ******* thrash! I salute one of the best riffs in the album, because MAN! This is pure gold! Anyway, the verse plays. The drumming is fast but precise, Mustaine's vocals are as aggressive as ever, piercing through your soul without letting you know how old he is (he sounds GREAT!) and the riff... I can't get into much detail on this riff, it works kind of like the Holy Wars verse 1 riff, it isn't your standard thrash riff where you rely on a palm-muted E note (Maybe D or C, depending on your tuning), no, this one is using actual high-pitched notes in a fast-matter without having to abuse of one string, he's basically using the whole neck, which is one of the reasons why I love Mustaine's riffing so much, he innovates.

Anyway, one half of the verse plays, the intro riff plays a little again and then the other half of the verse plays in the same fashion. After another intro riff the chorus starts.

This is one badass chorus. The riff is basically three notes followed by segments of the intro riff, it seems familiar yet different. Mustaine sings over the part with three notes and the segment of the intro riff plays alone, except for the second part of the chorus where, while the segment of the intro riff plays, Dave sings but he seems distant. I don't know what that effect is called but it sounds pretty cool. The chorus is fast, granted not as fast as the verse but it still is fast and it will get you headbanging in no time. After it finishes the first solo starts.

Solo 1 - Chris Broderick

Some sustained notes are played before an ascending harmony goes up the neck finishing in one last bend. This harmony is followed by a fast sweep-picking that ends in yet another sustained note followed by some bends and then a descending, very fast alternate-picking followed by a fast shredding through the low notes. Superb solo: Powerful, fast, skillful, professional and most importantly metal. Chris definitely excels the expectations in this song which could be called his best work lead-wise.

The verse plays again in the same way as before, as well as the chorus. After this the last solo starts.

Solo 2 - Chris Broderick

The song changes completely. The riff is different, the tempo is different, it feels like a whole new song. The riff is pretty badass, it kinda follows what Broderick is doing on the leads which sounds pretty cool. It's complex and gets the job done, I like it! Now onto the good stuff: The solo starts with a weird lick that adapts strangely to the new tempo imposed by the riff and the drumming. It has this kind of incomplete feel that seems just about right, I don't know if I'm explaining it well. After this Broderick gets a harmony in (I think this guy likes harmonies, haha) over which he plays some bent notes slowly ascending making use of some other notes as a route to follow. When he finishes ascending he plays the same lick as the beginning of the solo but with an added harmony. After that he plays a certain number of notes backed up by Drover's snare a lot of times right before the song ends with some power-chords.

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Anyhoo, I think we're done with this one! Expect the next part soon, subscribe so you don't miss it and leave a comment if you feel like it! Also, if you're following the Top 50 songs list I suggest you subscribe too, I'll be posting a new entry soon =D

Thanks for reading, gang! Expect more!

-Prattz