Megadeth, riding a successful roll for a while, but seemingly rising and falling with the ever-changing musical tides, tries to move forward by taking a small step backwards in a brave, but necessary attempt at recapturing the lost and left-for-dead fans that endured the abominable "Risk" release, their final original record for Capitol. And while I'm personally still smarting from that one, and I do believe I was among the first to point out the irony of calling it "Risk" in the first place, it appears Mustaine and Co. realized the err of their ways and put forth a decidedly more driven effort here. This'll make for a good starting point once the band decides to stay within their own limits rather than trying to follow Metallica step for step.

Upfront, I'll be quick to point out that listeners shouldn't expect "Peace Sells" revisited or really anything typical of their Speed-Metal era, but rather a conglomeration of everything post "Rust in Peace," an album many look back on as being the band's defining moment. "The World Needs a Hero." is true enough, but this isn't the record that's going to give it to 'em. It's a welcome back to the real world comeback, but still a little too playful and polished.

At its worst, the album comes across as an edgier version of "Risk" -- "The World Needs a Hero," "1000 Times Goodbye," "Burning Bridges;" while at its pure Metal best draws influence from where "Rust in Peace" left off, "Recipe For Hate. Warhorse," and "Return to Hangar," the intended follow up to "Hangar 18" of course. At all points between it's total "Countdown To Extinction" meets "Cryptic Writings."

With the comparative elements laid forth, "The World Needs a Hero" does find the band's creative juices flowing once again and, in that regard, this is not a passé Heavy Metal record simply released to make a statement against their having gone soft. In fact that did occur quite some time ago but they've still managed to leave it all out there every once in a while.

Here, we'll look toward "Recipe for Hate. Warhorse," and "Losing My Senses" for comfort as well "Dread and the Fugitive Mind," which is basically "Sweating Bullets" with a much better verse/chorus arrangement. Add to this the epic closing track which operates in much the same way as the two-part "Time" closer from the last.

"When," is very tranquil, then suddenly loud and disturbing. So to outdo "Risk" one needn't expect much more than a few quick flicks of the pick hand and a few solid drum rolls, but measured within the context of their overall history, "The World Needs a Hero" finds Megadeth coming back to earth a little: more focused, more intent... but still too colorful and vulnerable to falling into that pit of mediocrity that's stunted their last several albums.