By Pete Wadeson

Never has an album title been so fitting, but then again Megadeth like their 'counterparts' Metallica have never been frightened of taking risks. 'Risk' the ninth album from Mustaine's four horsemen is a huge musical wonderland, an eclectic embracing of everything the band have done over their lengthy not to mention ' colourful ' career. In fact can you really believe it's been 16 years since Dave Mustaine was unceremoniously 'booted-out' of Metallica ? Ah, well. In hindsight thank god he was as there would never have been a Megadeth- what a sobering thought! Anyway enough reminiscing - although at times 'Risk' tends to lean heavily towards the more commercial aspect of Megadeth's musical output there's still plenty here to appease the riff-heads and beat merchants. Album opener 'Insomnia' trickily intros with Eastern influenced guitars before hitting the mark with one of the most catchy riffs Mustaine's penned in many a moon. The first single to be lifted off the album, the thumpimg track 'Crush 'Em' is apparently already getting heavy rotation on American radio due I suspect to not only the WCW wrestling connotations and connections but the fact its on the soundtrack to 'Universal Soldier-The return' and features a rather cool video promo featuring the muscles from Brussels himself, Jean-Claude Van Damme. So has Mustaine made a master- piece ? Not quite- but rest assured there,s plenty of twisting lyricism and hooks with barbs. Like they say- if you don.t take risks...

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