What do you think about Megadeth's Risk?

[Ale]

I remember when it came out, Dave Mustaine was comparing it with Fleetwood Mac. True story!

I have a soft spot for albums that were "the low point" in a band career. I like Risk.

[Tymaster]

Has some clunkers but I liked what Dave was doing with Melodicdeath on this one and on Cryptic Writings. The "Time" songs, "Prince of Darkness" and particularly "Breadline" are outstanding but "Crush 'Em" was pretty embarrassing.

[GreatWhiteSnake]

Risk and CW are my favorite MegaDave...

[Tymaster]

Risk and CW are my favorite MegaDave...

It's interesting. Megadeth started off as a way for Dave to prove that he could be harder, louder, faster and thrashier than Metallica and then he followed their trajectory toward commercialism. He followed the Black album with CTE and then he followed the Loads with the two you mentioned. He went from trying to out thrash them to trying to out radio them. Dave proved he could write some damn hooky and melodic stuff in the process. "Almost Honest," "Trust," "Breadline." Incredible. Lots of filler on these two though.

[Mister Freeze]

If "Trust" could've somehow been the lead single off Youthanasia, I think Megadeth would've had a very different career.

[Tymaster]

If "Trust" could've somehow been the lead single off Youthanasia, I think Megadeth would've had a very different career.

Youthanasia doesn't stand out at all in their catalog and sales wise was a dissapointment after CTE. Good point.

[Lobo]

IMO Risk is the lowest point this band has ever been at in their career.

Two listenable tunes on this album: Wanderlust and Time: The End.

[Tymaster]

IMO Risk is the lowest point this band has ever been at in their career.

Two listenable tunes on this album: Wanderlust and Time: The End.

I thought the one after this was the worst. Dave was trying to prove they still had some kind of thrash credentials and it was just a very meh and blah affair. He made up for it when he brought the band back in 2004 or whenever.

[diablomozart]

aside from trust, i don't remember a single tune off of that album...and i know i owned it and saw them on that tour...d.m.

[Tymaster]

aside from trust, i don't remember a single tune off of that album...and i know i owned it and saw them on that tour...d.m.

"Trust" was the album before Risk so you don't remember a single tune!

[CrankerBait]

The album doesn't do that much for me, but I saw them live in early 2000 and the Risk songs - maybe three or so - were good.

[LAglamrocker]

I don’t think about it another win in life for me
I’m thinking about chick lifeguard on Laguna Beach now- she is hot

[BDG135]

It has some good songs, just not for Megadeth.

[diablomozart]

aside from trust, i don't remember a single tune off of that album...and i know i owned it and saw them on that tour...d.m.

"Trust" was the album before Risk so you don't remember a single tune!

wow that's even worse lol...d.m.

[Tymaster]

aside from trust, i don't remember a single tune off of that album...and i know i owned it and saw them on that tour...d.m.

"Trust" was the album before Risk so you don't remember a single tune!

wow that's even worse lol...d.m.

You have to remember that awful "Crush 'Em" song! It was painfully bad.

[diablomozart]

"Trust" was the album before Risk so you don't remember a single tune!

wow that's even worse lol...d.m.

You have to remember that awful "Crush 'Em" song! It was painfully bad.

uggghh...you just had to remind me didn't you?...i may have owned it and not made it much farther than that tune...d.m.

[Tymaster]

wow that's even worse lol...d.m.

You have to remember that awful "Crush 'Em" song! It was painfully bad.

uggghh...you just had to remind me didn't you?...i may have owned it and not made it much farther than that tune...d.m.

It was the lead single so I avoided the album and tour. I picked it up in an used cd shop (remember those!!!!???) several months later after I had seen the "Breadline" video. It was ok.

[diablomozart]

You have to remember that awful "Crush 'Em" song! It was painfully bad.

uggghh...you just had to remind me didn't you?...i may have owned it and not made it much farther than that tune...d.m.

It was the lead single so I avoided the album and tour. I picked it up in an used cd shop (remember those!!!!???) several months later after I had seen the "Breadline" video. It was ok.

i really don't remember much of anything about it...yeah i worked in a used cd store when i was in high school (cue "when dinosaurs roamed the earth" theme)...d.m.

[kytepunches]

Megadeth managed to do the worst thing any band can do with this one. They put out an album that is completely forgettable , because it’s boring. I revisit this one every few years to see if my mind will change about it. But it’s just dull and lifeless.

[Indy_Rob]

I don’t think the album is as bad as most folks here think it is. The title is perfect for what the album is. They took a major risk with it.

Breadline, I’ll Be There, Wanderlust, and Time are all decent songs.

[FreddyFender]

Risk was different from the prior two albums in that the prior two each had ONE song good enough to impact rock radio (A Tout Le Monde on Youthanasia and Trust on CW), while Risk had zero.

CTE was their commercial peak, it was a steady decline after that. Risk was just the end of the road.

Countdown to Extinction: 2x Platinum
Youthanasia: Platinum
Cryptic Writings: Gold
Risk: Zilch

Mustaine was shocked CP didn't got platinum after having a hit with Trust, but the reality was Youthanasia sold a lot and got a lot of promotion on the back of Countdown. It didn't go platinum on its own merits. Reckoning Day is cool... the ballad works... everything else? Shit.

They should have at least included Angry Again on Youthanasia. Love that riff.

[Tymaster]

Risk was different from the prior two albums in that the prior two each had ONE song good enough to impact rock radio (A Tout Le Monde on Youthanasia and Trust on CW), while Risk had zero.

CTE was their commercial peak, it was a steady decline after that. Risk was just the end of the road.

Countdown to Extinction: 2x Platinum
Youthanasia: Platinum
Cryptic Writings: Gold
Risk: Zilch

Mustaine was shocked CP didn't got platinum after having a hit with Trust, but the reality was Youthanasia sold a lot and got a lot of promotion on the back of Countdown. It didn't go platinum on its own merits. Reckoning Day is cool... the ballad works... everything else? Shit.

They should have at least included Angry Again on Youthanasia. Love that riff.

Solid point but CW did really, really well at active rock radio at the time. The MTV machine was missing by 97/98 though. All those CTE singles got their videos in heavy rotation back in 92/93, there wasn't as much MTV to match the radio airplay of the CW singles but they were definitely on the tuner. I was in college and was shocked to hear "Almost Honest" and "Trust" as much as I did.

[joey78]

I like songs that have hooks . Risk had plenty of them .

Heavy for the sake of being heavy is not my cup of tea . I can’t even listen to the last 3 Megadeth records . Nothing sticks in my head and I turn off after the first 5-6 songs . It’s like Dave is trying to show people he can write heavy music

[Tymaster]

I like songs that have hooks . Risk had plenty of them .

Heavy for the sake of being heavy is not my cup of tea . I can’t even listen to the last 3 Megadeth records . Nothing sticks in my head and I turn off after the first 5-6 songs . It’s like Dave is trying to show people he can write heavy music

This.

[Borges]

Not bad, but not really what I wanted from Megadeth. It didnt even buy it at that point as I was very underwhelmed by Youthanasia and hated Cryptic Writings. I loved Countdown though.
I did buy The World Needs a Hero, which was supposed to be a "back to the roots" album, and it was awful, that was the lowest point for sure. The System Has Failed was a great return to form and the last one I really enjoyed (almost 20 years ago).
In hindsight Risk is decent, better than the one before and the one after, and an interesting experiment. More memorable than most of their albums after The System Has Failed.

[Tommy2Tone84]

If "Trust" could've somehow been the lead single off Youthanasia, I think Megadeth would've had a very different career.

Youthanasia doesn't stand out at all in their catalog and sales wise was a dissapointment after CTE. Good point.

I loved Youth and CTE. I might like Youth better than CTE. Risk blew and I lost interest just like I had with Metallica. I like the Scorpions E2E better than what the thrash guys were doing. I also went back to more power metal stuff like Helloween. I missed Kiske, they were still better with Andi than the American thrash metal scene. American Metal really sucked at the time.