By Martin Popoff
And continuing the positive, I have to renounce my often-blabbed thought that the production wasn't that great. I've played it on some different stereos, and I now love it. I think it's one of the best-sounding records they've done, especially since it bravely leaves the signature Drinkin' Mr. Clean Mega-mix for new territory. Plus there are a number of cool, groovy songs here, and half the ponderous ones are again, bravely arranged and a bit dark (check out the chorus to Losing My Senses). So oddly, you gotta give props for not completely giving in to the old scourge and going back to the rock-scrabble sound of the pre-Countdown days (just like Maiden: Brave New World is a hybrid), Dave and his facilitators once again making an album that could only come from this band.
"Well, you have to listen to your public," begins Dave Ellefson (I asked specifically for the long-loyal bassist, given that I've read too much Mustaine on this album, and entertaining as he is, he is plainly driving me nuts). "And everybody's a critic, it's just that some people have typewriters (laughs), or word processors I should say. And they have their authority to put the opinion out to the masses, and that definitely influences people. Risk, actually was critically a pretty well-received record and there were a lot of new fans we picked up along the way (ed. yes I know: no and no, and I let it go.). Trust me, I stand behind Risk; it was fun. Because anytime we did anything that sounded reminiscent of previous Megadeth records, we tried to improve upon it. And that's hard. I mean, when you have as many records as we have, one of the biggest challenges is to just not repeat yourself. We've never just re-treaded the same old tire and delivered it back out to the people. We've always pushed ourselves to make something new. So even though some of our fans maybe want to hear an earlier style of Megadeth, there's also a another part of our fanbase that love the anticipation of a new Megadeth record because they know there will be something new and cutting edge on it."
MEGADETH - Who Do We Think We Are! Page 3