UMUR The Craving is the debut full-length studio album by American heavy metal act MD.45. The album was released in July 1996 by Slab Records. MD.45 was a short-lived project started by Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine ( who doesn´t sing but plays guitar on this album) and Fear vocalist Lee Ving. Jimmy DeGrasso ( Suicidal Tendencies, Megadeth, White Lion...etc.) plays the drums on the album while Kelly Lemieux lays down the basslines. The album was remixed and re-released in 2004 by Capitol Records with three bonus tracks. The re-release feature re-recorded vocals by Dave Mustaine as Lee Ving´s original vocal tracks were alledgedly lost. I´m reviewing the original version with Lee Ving singing.

The music on the album is slightly punked heavy metal. Lee Ving has quite a distinct vocal style. Lots of power and sound comes out of that man. The tempo in the songs is generally mid- to fast paced and the songs are pretty direct no nonsense heavy metal. The album sounds like it was recorded in a few days and especially the guitars have a kind of loose feel to them. I guess Dave Mustaine needed a break from the precision playing that characterizes most Megadeth material. The production is good but pretty scraped but I´m sure that was the intention. There aren´t that many standout tracks on the album which is pretty consistent, but I guess album opener Hell's Motel takes the prize as my favorite.

The Craving is overall a good heavy metal album, but far from a revelation IMO. This is not an album Megadeth fans can´t live without, and if you come to the album expecting it to sound like Megadeth you´re pretty sure to be disappointed. A 3 star rating is deserved.