I think it’s official now. With a “different” but interesting effort in Risk, followed up by a greatest hits compilation and finally this one, dropping yet another notch, I believe it’s safe to say it… Megadeth peaked at Cryptic Writings. Hey, it happens. At least they didn’t peak at their first or second album. I’m not saying this is a terrible cd. It’s just not as good as some of their previous work. Tragically a few bad decisions really hurt this cd. There are a lot of good individual elements within this cd, but many of the songs have inner conflicts. It just seems like parts weren't thought all the way through, or maybe were over-thought, but in any case the cd lacks a good flow. --Scott