Turns out Temple of Void aren’t the only Defenders alumni gracing the site today! Mega Colossus have opted to make this March an extra metal one with the release of their fifth studio album, Watch Out!. You know what that means? Dust off your D&D board, crack open a cold one, and call over your old pal McLovin’: Things are about to get nerdy. Now of MC’s 5 albums, I’ve reviewed two (2021’s Riptime and 2024’s Showdown). I’ve also interviewed them once (thus far), so if anyone should be qualified to give a fair assessment of their work, it’s this fellow metal nerd.
Like every MC album before it, Watch Out! is a rip-roaring offering of USPM boasting all the trademarks I’ve come to love about this band. The twin guitar attack of Bill Fischer and Chris Millard is perhaps the greatest take on Smith and Murray worship this country has had to offer this century. Frontman Sean Buchanan belts out his hyper-nerdy lyrics with the gusto of Bruce Dickinson, albeit with a weirdo epic metal twist: One of the many tropes that puts MC ahead of the pack. And the songs themselves? Well, they’re just balls to the wall: Unrelenting not in a “I’m going to rip your heart out” Jag Panzer way, but a “I’m going to whoop your ass in D&D” way.
Whereas Showdown boasted the faintest hint of hooks and melodies to set off my hard rock/AOR detector (Mind you, I am someone who champions the Gary Moon era of Night Ranger as much as I do the Blaze era of Maiden), Watch Out! feels like a retreat back to the “true” and “pure” metal that MC has built their musical foundation upon. Sure, there are exceptions. “Good Hunting” is so damn happy sounding that it’ll either invoke sheer elation or annoyance (depending on the listener), but it does so in a Lord Weird Slough Feg manner as opposed to the Turbo-esque tracks on the latest Greyhawk.
Aside from that outlier, this is your typical “Maiden on steroids” effort one has come to expect of MC. High octane ragers like “The Bad Thing” and “Battlefront” burst with unavoidable energy, proudly boasting unrelenting power-speed riffs and anthemic shout-along choruses. As the album progresses, MC seems to hone in on classic epic metal, starting with the sprawling “The Halls of Mystikos”, and further broadening their sonic palette with the breezy, melodic “Here Lies You”, the latter of which, OK, might just be the “AOR song”. It could’ve been written by William J Tsamis. It could’ve been written by Buck Dharma. You get the idea.
The closing “Bloodless” serves as the obligatory battle hymn that every power metal act needs at least one of per album, and it’s fine. It probably could’ve been 4 minutes instead of 8, but hey, who’s counting? I’ll take an 8 minute Mega Colossus battle hymn everyday over a 4 minute Sabaton battle hymn. And I’ll more than likely take Watch Out! over whatever power metal albums I end up reviewing for the rest of the year. So to all you D&D loving metallers who aren’t named Mega Colossus, watch out! The bar has been set!
8 out of 10
Label: Cruz del Sur Music
Genre: Power Metal
For fans of: Iron Maiden, Riot, Twisted Tower Dire
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