In 1997, Megadeth followed Metallica's lead. After Metallica ventured into the mainstream, I was surprised a bit when Megadeth releaded "Youthanasia" in '94, which was pretty good, but "Cryptic Writings" is the equivilant to Metallica's "Load" (with "Risk" being equivilent to "ReLoad"). Megadeth sounds too mainstream on "Cryptic Writings", but the songs are ok, it just gets at me when I listen to "Peace Sells...But Who's Buying", and then hear something off of here (the same happened with Metallica). This proved to be Nick Menza's last album with Megadeth, with Jimmy DeGrasso joining on "Risk". If you like old school Megadeth, avoid this, but if you like mainstream hard rock, "Cryptic Writings" is as good as any other album out there.

I am an old school Megadeth fan, and therefore cannot help to view this album through the prism of the band's previous releases. In my view, to pretend that this is the work of a heretofore unknown band and judge it on that basis is impractical, and because there's no mistaking Dave Mustaine's voice, impossible. This album has it's strong points... "Trust" and "Almost Honest" stick to the mind, and my favorite track of the album, "Use The Man", is in my opinion the most powerful ballad Megadeth has made since "In My Darkest Hour". "The Disintegrators" seems to tell the listener "we could, if we wanted to...."; it rocks. The other tracks of the album are just plain... weak, I hate to say. "Fight for Freedom" sounds like it was either consciously or unconsciously modeled after "Motorbreath", an early Metallica song, and the "She Wolf" track is just somewhat... sad, the aural equivalent of walking home one day to find your wife playing with Barbie dolls, and meaning it. I would mention other tracks if I could recall their titles.... In my opinion, if something keeps me entertained for a length of time equal to or greater than the time I worked to earn the money I used to pay for it, it was a worthy investment. This album passes that test... but not nearly to the degree I hoped it would.

Cryptic Writing is one of the best albums this standout speed metal gurus have ever released. Also a bit tragic since after this album, Menza left and after Risk, Friedman left. So this is the last album of Megadeth with their classic lineup. Also this album marks the first time they changed their producer in a while, instead of tried and trusted Max Norman who did most of their previuos work, Megadeth got in Dan Huff, who is not that well known and got some country music behind him.

The result, a little slow down in the initial phase of the album, but as ususal goes on to hit some really heavy songs. The album starts with my all time favourite Megadeth twin songs ever, Trust and Almost Honest, beautiful, moving songs by Mustaine et al on relationships. Just brilliant lyrics, awesome guitars and they leave you spellbound. The song structures are very simple compared to their earlier works (RIP being the most complex I guess), just a few notes and the regular power chords. But the beauty is, the leads are not missing, some songs ever featuring 2 or more leads. In this age of fake guitarist who cant play lead to save their lives, Megadeth is an exception. This is a guitarist band and you know why when you listen to them.

The album also marks the maturity of Mustaine as a singer. His voice is remarkable in this album esp on the first two songs. Use the Man might [anger you] initially, if you are a hardcore metalhead but it will grow into you. Mastermind, Sin, She-wolf and Vortex are sinister songs in true Mustaine style. The other standout songs are, I'll get even with you, FFF and Disintegrators, AWESOME!!! This is what is known as full blown, [tail] rippin metal and Megadeth helped create the genre....just hoping that they will come back from the dead some day.....

This, quite simply, eclipses any of Megadeth's previous work (including their pretty good new album, RISK). The band got a mixture of flack from old fans, and praise from critics on this album, and for once I'm going to side with the critics. As a collection of songs, as heavy metal that's supposed to give you energy, to make you want to rock out, Megadeth has really served up a classic here. Some fans detest this, but this album is truly like Metallica's BLACK album, but better. Now, I love Metallica, and in general like them more than Megadeth (I have ALL the albums by both bands), but this one changed my perspective (and I was let down a little by RISK). Anyways, this is more of a departure from the bands more progressive elements (where YOUTHANASIA really began the move towards a more accessible sound). However, while Megadeth has gone more commercial here, the result is an album that had great success on radio for a reason. "Trust" is Megadeth's best song, period. It's a bit like a catchier "Enter Sandmand". "Almost Honest", "A Secret Place", "Use The Man", this entire album is consistently strong, with the addition of one element that seriously elevates Megadeth's music-hooks! For fans of heavy metal (particularly fans of Metallica's BLACK album), this is a must-have. This is the place to start a Megadeth collection, as their most accessible album. The old stuff, from the PEACE SELLS...BUT WHO'S BUYING period is great, but CRYPTIC WRITINGS, like any truly great album, managed to change my perspective (for the better) of this band forever. My only fear is that they'll never live up to this album again.

while it doesn't match up to their three previous cds, it is still solid megadeth, there is no fear of metallica-ish turning alternative here. 'FFF' sounds like something from 'rust in peace' and 'disintegrators' could almost have come from 'peace sells...' This may be a new high in sales for Megadeth, but it isn't a radio cd, it is still pure metal with no excuses, no attempts at going mainstream. It is similar to Youthanasia in one big way, it isn't what you expect. When i heard about Youthanasia, i was expecting a full cd of 'holy wars...the punishment due' and was of course very disappointed, but after i gave it another try about a month later, i loved it and to this day consider it right up there with RIP and Countdown as their best efforts. Cryptic Writings is the same way, listen to it a couple times and get the feel of it, and you'll realize it is still pure, unashamed metal that has never been toned down or made to play nice for radio time.