CoC : MD.45 - The Craving (remastered) : Review

MD.45 - _The Craving (remastered)_
(Capitol Records, 2004)
by: Xander Hoose (1 out of 10)

Call me a sucker for happy music, but MD.45's _The Craving_ has always been one of my favourites. This collaboration between Dave Mustaine and Fear frontman Lee Ving was the perfect mix between thrash metal and that kick-in-your-ass punk attitude that only Fear could provide. The catchy, intriguing guitar riffs and melodies have kept me happy during many car rides. With a decent production, I couldn't really find anything bad about this album -- so why remaster this classic album? Now that I finally get to have a listen, I am shocked. No, I am outraged. Mister almighty Dave Mustaine has not remastered the album, he has stripped the original album of Lee Ving's vocals and laid down his own vocal tracks. And it doesn't stop there: upon mixing his new vocals in, he has completely ignored the balance between the volume of his vocals and the rest of the instruments. So what the new _The Craving_ is, is Dave Mustaine raping the original songs with the instruments too far in the background. Unbelievable. Not only do Dave's whiny vocals make the album hell to listen to, using the old bandname is downright hypocritical. MD: Mustaine, Dave. 45: the Latin L and V for Lee Ving. For this effort in backstabbing I refuse to give mister Mustaine a higher rating than the one I'm praising the album with now. Those of you who don't know _The Craving_, please go find the original.

(article published 31/7/2004)