Cryptic Writings by Megadeth

Cryptic Writings, Megadeth's seventh studio album, came out on Capitol on June 17, 1997, and it's the sound of Dave Mustaine's thrash machine deliberately sanding off its sharpest edges. Fed up with their old producer Max Norman, the band decamped to Nashville to work with Dann Huff, and the 12 songs that came out of it are tight, hook-first and built with radio squarely in the crosshairs, the lyrics reworked to reach a wider crowd. Mustaine and Marty Friedman still trade stinging guitar, David Ellefson holds down the bass, and Nick Menza drums on his final Megadeth studio record, closing out the longest-running lineup the band had yet had, four albums strong.

Not everyone bought the new direction, and critics grumbled about the retreat from thrash, but rock radio programmers ate it up. It entered the Billboard 200 at number 10, went gold by October, and "Trust" earned a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance and became their biggest Mainstream Rock Tracks hit.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.