At least St. Anger, pile of crap that it was, was adventurous. There's shit on there that just doesn't sound like anything else. System was just utterly fucking tame, and still mostly sucked.
Granted Alice in Hell was a masterpiece but I dont believe many would agree that Jeff's managed to record anything as consistently thrashy since. Waters has certainly made some great songs since but a full album of thrash winners seemed beyond his grasp. I would agree that Annihilators new album is the most consistent piece of work from them since AiH. But discussing Annihilator is not the purpose of this thread.
Back to the 'deth. I saw them on the RiP tour, they were the days. I expected alot more from their latsest album when i heard they returned to a more traditional sound but it sounded very so-so and lacking edge.
I suggest you check out the remixed version of their debut (done well before the recent remix campaign) and revisit that album if you haven't already. It has since become my personal favorite Megadeth album.
It's a fantastic, raw thrash album, and easily the best of the big bands debut albums.
RIP is my favourite by a nose however, due to the powerful majesty of Polaris, the savagery of Take no Prisoners, the guitar wizardry of Hangar 18 and the epic nature of Holy Wars...
The big problem with Megadeths career is that for every Holy Wars, you get a Warhorse: for every Hangar 18 you get a return to Hanger, and for every Hook in Mouth you get a Breadline.
Consistency just isn't in Mr Mustaines vocabulary.