Endgame (Megadeth album)

Untitled

Endgame is the upcoming twelfth studio album by American heavy metal band Megadeth, set to be released on Roadrunner Records in September 2009. It will be the first album featuring guitarist Chris Broderick, following Glen Drover's departure in 2008.

Background

The first preview of any song off Endgame was a six-minute video featuring the band's British producer Andy Sneap describing the process of mixing the new Megadeth track "Head Crusher" at his studio in Derbyshire, UK. Andy Sneap said, "It's certainly old-school Megadeth — that's what I like." Megadeth's twelfth studio album was recorded at the band's own Vic's Garage studio in San Marcos, California. Other song titles set to appear on the CD include "The Right To Go Insane", "The Hardest Part of Letting Go... Sealed With A Kiss", "Bite the Hand", "1320'", "How the Story Ends", "This Day We Fight!" and "Endgame".

Mustaine, Megadeth's permanent frontman, said about the album: "It is fast, it is heavy, there is singing, yelling, speaking, and guest voices (maybe not singing — more like in "Captive Honour"), the soloing is insane. We have some great song concepts, like 'Nothing Left to Lose' is a song about having been wiped out, like so many Americans, from the recession and potential depression years of 2000, or 'Bite the Hand That Feeds', which is a song about the greed of the fiduciary leaders of the financial world and how they just didn't care about the responsibility they had to the public. There are also songs like 1,320', a song about nitro fuel funny cars (something I enjoy). He said the songs "How The Story Ends" and "This Day We Fight," were both inspired by "warrior creed from the great Sun Tzu with the use of drums and flags in ancient war, and an impassioned plea from Aragorn to his loyal fighters in Lord of the Rings trilogy, respectively." He adds "I also have some bizarre songs, like 'Head Crusher,' which is about the medieval torture device, and "Endgame," the title track, which is about a bill that ex-President George W. Bush signed into law that gave him the power to put American citizens in detention centers here in the United States, and a favorite lyric of mine on this record about the North Hollywood bank robbery of 1997." "Head Crusher" was first played for the public at the Canadian Carnage Tour on June 24th 2009.

Production

On May 19, it was announced that Megadeth had finished recording the album, at that time untitled.
On May 26 2009, Chris Broderick posted the following on their official website :

"As for the CD, I can’t believe the way the whole thing came together. It has a unique and original sound that I don’t think could have come together with any other group of people. From Dave’s snarling vocals, to James’ huge bass sound and Shawn’s dead accurate drumming it is just relentless, and with Andy producing, it focused the sound and direction of the CD. I feel lucky to be a part of it, for one thing it definitely did, was make me expand and play in different styles. I can’t wait for the release, and I hope all of you find something in it you like."
On May 27 2009, Dave Mustaine confirmed all 12 songs are complete and they are currently under mixing and mastering the record.

The album title was revealed to be "Endgame" June 18, named after the track of the same name.

On July 18th Dave Mustaine confirmed via the Megadeth forums that a video for 'Head Crusher' will be shot on July 28th.

While mastering the album the song title "Nothing Left to Lose" was changed to "The Right to Go Insane".

The artwork for the album was released on July 27th, exclusively for members of the Megadeth Fanclub Members, but was leaked shortly after.

The tracklisting on Megadeth.com was updated on August 8th, showing that a number of other song titles had also been altered, specifically shortening "Bite The Hand That Feeds" and "Bodies Left Behind".

Singles

The first single off of the new album is "Head Crusher". According to Roadrunner Records official website, a download of "Head Crusher" was available for 24-hours on July 7th, starting at 11:00 AM EDT(the availablity of download ended the morning of July 8th). The track was previously available for listening by calling Dave Mustaine's number, through the TheLiveLine.com, a service he launched that enables musicians to connect to their audience over the phone. Now it can be streamed from Roadrunner Records website and avaliable for downloading in Amazon and iTunes.

The song "1,320'" was released on Sunday, August 16th exclusively to the members of the Megadeth Fanclub, it was later put up for streaming and downloading at the Roadrunner Records website.

The title track, "Endgame", was leaked onto Youtube on Wednesday, August 19th. The copy is a rough mix due to the cut off beginning and the missing 4 seconds.

The song "44 Minutes" was leaked onto Youtube on Sunday, August 23rd after being broadcasted on an unknown radio station. However, it is only a rough copy due to the missing 10 seconds of the song.

Tracklisting

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Dialectic Chaos" (Instrumental)	Dave Mustaine	2:24
2.	"This Day We Fight!"	Mustaine	3:31
3.	"44 Minutes"	Mustaine	4:37
4.	"1,320'"	Mustaine	3:51
5.	"Bite the Hand"	Mustaine	4:01
6.	"Bodies"	Mustaine	3:34
7.	"Endgame"	Mustaine	5:52
8.	"The Hardest Part of Letting Go...Sealed With a Kiss"	Mustaine, Chris Broderick	4:42
9.	"Head Crusher"	Mustaine, Shawn Drover	3:26
10.	"How the Story Ends"	Mustaine	4:47
11.	"The Right To Go Insane"	Mustaine	4:20

Japanese Bonus track

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
12.	"Washington Is Next!" (Live)	Mustaine	5:20~

B-Side

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
13.	"???"	Mustaine

Personnel

• Dave Mustaine – rhythm/lead guitar, lead vocals
• Chris Broderick – lead/rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• James LoMenzo – bass, backing vocals
• Shawn Drover – drums