In a recent interview with Overdrive, MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson looked back at band’s 2013 album Super Collider, saying that the record’s mixed reviews could’ve been significantly avoided simply by releasing a heavier lead single.
He said:
“‘Super Collider’ [was] a lot like [1999’s] ‘Risk,’ in the sense that we went straight into the studio off the back of [previous album, 2011’s] ‘Th1rt3en’ with no break, and I think personally it was too soon.
“But there was nothing we could do, as management had tour dates booked, so we kind of backed ourselves into a corner, and while that worked for us on ‘Th1rt3en,’ it really caught us off guard on ‘Super Collider.’
“Looking back, the first single off ‘Super Collider’ [the title track] was too light and I really think we should have come out of the gate with a heavier song choice.
“Once fans hear a lighter track, they become prejudiced towards the whole record and the mindset is almost set in stone from that moment onwards, kind of like a first-impressions-last-forever-type scenario.
“There were some great songs on that album but what we learned about [Megadeth’s latest album, 2016’s] ‘Dystopia’ was that we had to take some time off to really give it 100% and do things the way we want to do them.
“So no tours booked, no other commitments, just a total undisturbed focus on the task at hand. Taking this approach really proved to be very successful for us and we will be working to this format going forward.”
