The Megadeth renegade Chris Poland, who left the band in 1987, is featured here in 1991 performing live at the Mason Jar, Phoenix, Arizona from his debut solo album, Return to Metalopolis. The band members included brother Mark and Dave Randi who went on to form Damn the Machine.
As you might expect, the guitar work is fast and furious as befits the once king of the death metal supergroup. His incisive vitriolic lines scythe through the driving bass and drum layer at their most effective in Dave Mustaine's song "Wake up Dead", the only music with lyrics (from bassist Dave Randi) on the album. The album is mostly instrumental and despite its metal tag shows a good deal of compositional skill and inventiveness with pure soloing kept to a minimum in favour of carefully structured band pieces. "Khazad Dum" is the exception with an extended lyrical solo of enormous passion delivered by Poland.
Listening through the rather plodding and formulaic "Psycho Boy" is rewarded by the brilliant "Nightmare Hall", a tour de force of metal mayhem with turn on a dime changes, bluesy Blackmore-like guitar lines and riveting drumming. The positively scary "Theatre of the Damned" concludes the set with its doom-laden heavy chords and searing axework; the trio are in full flood here with Mark and Chris Poland trading percussion and guitar bombs in superhero fashion.
The album is completed with a previously unreleased track from the same era and the B-side of the first OHM single from 2003. "Pandora" is a very tasteful and melodic arrangement, whilst "Tin Man" is an intriguing melodic work accompanied by synths and even the strains of "If I Only Had A Heart" from the Wizard Of Oz.
As a bonus there is a (rather poor) video clip of "Alexandria" being performed in LA in 1999.
Track Listing
1. Return to Metalopolis
2. Wake up Dead
3. Khazad Dum
4. Psycho Boy
5. Nightmare Hall
6. Theatre of the Damned
7. Pandora
8. Tin Man
9. Alexandria (Multimedia track)
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