F5 – A Drug For All Seasons

A Drug For All Seasons is what David Ellefson has been working on since he quit Megadeth a couple of years ago. Along with a group of quite unknown musicians, Ellefson has formed the band F5, and tries here to prove what he is capable of doing without Dave Mustaine by his side.

Megadeth’s vast impact on the Trash Metal genre is carved in stone. However, Dave Ellefson is not paying much attention to that legacy. Here there’s another direction taken, as Ellefson & Co. aim towards a more Modern Metal approach. The old School Metal expression sure is thoroughly represented, but A Drug For All Seasons also captures the more up-to-date sound productions of the genre. During a couple of moments, the album even hints towards Nu-Metal elements.

A Drug For All Seasons, ticking in at 36 minutes, is way more interesting than Mustaine’s disappointing and easily forgettable 1996 side project MD.45, The Craving. That doesn’t say a lot, though. F5 sure provides aggression for every Metal fan to embrace, thanks to a big extent to singer Dale Steel’s angry delivery, but the album suffers from one critical shortage: The lack of good songs.

Ellefson’s bass playing is like you’d expect, and is hard to criticize. Drummer Dave Small outdoes a great second half of the rhythm section. The guitar players, Conley and Davis, enrich the album with great skills and clever guitar work — the “Dissidence” intro and the “Bleeding” solo are both highlights. Still, this doesn’t help a lot since the band has been unable to pin down any standout tracks. The absence of originality is striking; proved by “Fall To Me,” “Hold Me Down,” “Defacing,” plus the title track. Including a cover of Edie Brickell & New Bohemians’ “What I Am” does not lift the album up either. Simply put, boring stuff.

In addition, when the lyrics become as bad as Get into my Mitsubishi turbo, built to please / Like Paris Hilton, you’ll be on your knees (“X’d Out”), making it hard to cheer this effort. (The topic in this quotation, however, is not representative of the rest of the lyrical themes on the album. They mostly get way more depressed than this.)

In all fairness, there are some moments to enjoy here. “Dissidence” and “Dying On The Vine” represent this minority. However, one sure could have expected a substantially larger amount of high quality Metal on this disc … but no. Maybe next time.

Band

Dale Steele – Vocals
Steve Conley – Guitars
John Davis – Guitars
Dave Small – Drums and Percussion
Davis Ellefson – Bass, Backing Vocals