The World Needs A Hero

The World Needs A Hero is Megadeth's 10th album, released in May 2001 on Metal-Is Records / Sanctuary Records. It is their first album since they left Capitol Records, and was originally going to be called Capitol Punishment. The band promised the fans that they would return to their classic sound, since quite a few fans were not pleased with the direction Megadeth had taken with their previous album, Risk. They kept their promise, although the album still is a lot less aggressive then their first few albums. It sounds more like Countdown To Extinction, even though the fans were hoping it would be in the same style as Rust In Peace.

All songs except Promises were written by Dave Mustaine. Promises was written by Dave Mustaine and new guitarist Al Pitrelli, who left Savatage to join Megadeth. The album was produced by Dave Mustaine with help of Bill Kennedy. The cover art was done by Hugh Syme, who altered a picture taken by Dave Mustaine, so it would include Megadeth's mascotte Vic Rattlehead. Vic finally made his return to the album's front cover. He was gone missing for a few albums, which also angered fans.

Tracklisting:

1. Disconnect
2. The World Needs A Hero
3. Moto Psycho
4. 1000 Times Goodbye
5. Burning Bridges
6. Promises
7. Recipe For Hate... Warhorse
8. Losing My Senses
9. Dread And The Fugitive Mind
10. Silent Scorn (instrumental)
11. Return To Hangar
12. When

They asked me where I'd see myself in ten years in high school every year that I was there. I always said I was going to be a hero of some sort. I wanted to help people, to save them, to provide some sort of hope to their hearts, but I never thought I'd be getting away with murder in the process.

My job seems simple, but honestly it's not. I'm in Infantry in the United States Marine Corps, and it's not just the fact that I look into the hopeless eyes of death. It's so much more. Fear of my own life is the biggest thing I worry about on the field, but at night, when sleep seems impossible. After I have thought of my family, friends, and weather I will die that night or the next day, I think of the people I killed. That father that had a family, that young boy that could have had the same dreams as I did. The small child that was in the wrong place at the wrong time, or the people that could have been killed without anyone knowing until it was too late. People tell me I'm a hero, but would that fathers family tell me I am? Would that little boy or girl? If only people knew exactly how I feel about having to kill. I never said I agreed with war, and what was in it. I just agreed with what I was told. I agreed with the hero's that ,I'm sure, are thinking the same thing as I am.

When you go into the military, for any MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) you never know what you're really getting into, and you're not meant to. All you are meant to know is that, you could be a hero. That the government will pay for college, and help your family. You aren't suppose to be told about what comes with all of the glory. You're not to be told that the gold is really a thin coat of paint covering the aluminum underneath. I didn't know I was going to be a killer. I never knew I would have to do anything like what I have, but I did. I don't like it, and I never will.

When my school asked me every year where I saw myself in ten years, I would have never thought I'd be in a wheel chair, missing both of my legs, my face destroyed, and my family gone with nothing to prove from it. I thought I was going to be a hero. You wouldn't see me as a hero now if you saw me today, because I don't even see it myself.