The farewell album, self-titled, forty years of career in the mirror — and the winter’s most grinding consensus: 62/100 across twenty reviews, and a downright angry public at 48/100 on nearly 2,400 ratings. Metal Hammer (80) wants to believe: Megadeth « are bowing out with another great album ». The Needle Drop (3/10) buries it: « sadly not a high note » to end on. Slant (40) twists the knife: « surprisingly little ambition » for titans of metal.
In between, a fat soft middle of 60s: Kerrang! (3/5) hears the whole career in miniature, « bold, frequently brilliant but occasionally flawed »; The Guardian finds it « tuneful yet overlong », recapping old strengths and old grievances alike — with Spectrum Culture lamenting some « unnecessary score-settling » along the way. Pitchfork (5.2) delivers the cruellest line: an ending « without the communal gravitas of a proper farewell ».
The verdict is almost Shakespearean: nobody disputes that Mustaine can still riff, everybody doubts this is the right exit. The public has already voted — the most massive rejection of the recent discography. Awkward, for a record meant to seal the legend.