Megadeth is one of the few metal bands to have successfully handled the transition to the '90s, and Countdown to Extinction is proof positive; although considerably more streamlined and commercially oriented than their previous efforts, it's still a fine album, and arguably one of their best. Lead singer and guitarist Dave Mustaine's lyric-writing has improved, and the results can be heard on "Countdown to Extinction," "Symphony of Destruction," "Architecture of Aggression" (it's a rare songwriter who can make a line like that fit in a chorus), and "Foreclosure of a Dream". This is arena metal at its best; Countdown to Extinction (a reference not to genocide, as one might assume, but to endangered species) manages the difficult trick of being commercially appealing and musically sound at the same time. -- Genevieve Williams