MEGADETH — Rude Awakening (review)

MEGADETH — Rude Awakening album cover Live album · 2002 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
2/5 ·
martindavey87
2002’s ‘Rude Awakening’ is the first official live album by thrash metal pioneers Megadeth. Released 16 years after their formation (what took them so long?), it sadly comes during a somewhat weird time in the bands history. Having just gone pop rock with 1999’s ‘Risk’ and then attempting a return to their roots with the rather stoic and not-very-well-received ‘The World Needs a Hero’, the band were suffering greatly around the turn of the century, and just a year later would split up (thankfully they’d return eventually).

Somewhere amidst all the struggle and strife, they’d release this little nugget. However, with a rather weak sound, a mostly non-audible crowd, especially during the first half, and a line-up which just wasn’t resonating with fans (drummer Jimmy DeGrasso and guitarist Al Pitrelli both had the unfortunate job of being with the band during such troublesome times), ‘Rude Awakening’ is a pretty average release that leaves much to be desired.

All criticisms aside, there are a couple of things this album does right. The performances are all solid and tight (although Dave Mustaine’s vocals are a little grating at times), and the set list is pretty much spot on, covering every major track from the bands discography at that point in time. However, the aforementioned detriments far outweigh the strengths, and I’d much rather just listen to the original studio versions of any of these tracks.

A fairly disappointing live release, ‘Rude Awakening’ isn’t overly memorable and serves only as an addition to the Megadeth collection for die-hard fans. And hell, even the front cover is kind of goofy!
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
UMUR wrote:
more than 2 years ago
I agree, that it´s not a very good live album, and yeah those vocals :-(
Vim Fuego wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Those fucking vocals...

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

The Goblin Sessions Heavy Metal
THEM
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tormenta De Arena Metalcore
VORAGO
Buy this album from MMA partners
Infinite Metalcore
FUTURE GHOST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Heretic Melodic Death Metal
SUNCINDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Skull Burned Wearing Hell Like A Life Vest As The Night Wept Mathcore
FRONTIERER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Future Ghost - Wolves (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Future Ghost - Nemesis Game (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Harrowed TwentyTenVideo
HARROWED
Bosh66· 3 days ago
Sunmancer - Realms of Dilemma (Official Visualizer)
SUNMANCER
Bosh66· 8 days ago
Sunmancer - Lower Cavalier (Official Visualizer)
SUNMANCER
Bosh66· 8 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed