The World Needs a Hero by Megadeth

The World Needs a Hero, Megadeth's ninth studio album and their first for Sanctuary after the split with Capitol, is the sound of a band yanking the wheel back toward the heavy stuff after Risk (1999) flopped with critics and buyers alike. Dave Mustaine produced it himself, with David Ellefson on bass, Jimmy DeGrasso on drums and Al Pitrelli on guitar, on what turned out to be his only Megadeth album.

The signals are all there, down to the packaging: Vic Rattlehead back on the cover for the first time since Rust in Peace, the classic logo dusted off for the first time since Youthanasia. "Moto Psycho" and "Dread and the Fugitive Mind" snarl and chug like old times, and at 57 minutes it's the longest album they ever made, with "When", their longest song at over 9 minutes, on board. It hit 16 on the Billboard 200, but the lineup didn't last: it was Ellefson's last album until Thirteen, and the final one before the band's brief breakup in 2002.

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