With global affairs at a new low in 2004, fans expected The System Has Failed to be Megadeth’s ode to the decaying civilization they had been prophesying for almost 20 years. But with the exception of a few pointed diatribes directed at the government, the majority of the album returns to the internal conflicts that Dave Mustaine started exploring in the '90s. “Something I’m Not,” “Tears In A Vial,” and the inscrutable “The Scorpion” might be Megadeth’s first foray into… breakup songs. Even when Mustaine rails against terrorism in “Truth Be Told” it feels like he’s trying to ward off the effects of a broken heart: “Cause we are all guilty, guilty as sin / There'll be no peace, never for you and me.” With “Back in the Day” Mustaine takes a page from hip-hop’s playbook by designing a nostalgic ode to metal’s past that is as grumpy as it is salutary: “Well that was back in the day / And if you weren't there / It doesn't matter anyway / Because you wouldn't understand.” Thankfully, just when you think Megadeth have become old men in a young man’s world, there is the furor of “Blackmail the Universe,” proof that Megadeth will never be better than when they are dealing with the one subject they love above all others: the ruination of mankind.