I actually liked Risk and Cryptic Writings, the latter more than the former, both of which didn't get great reviews. I know Dave said he thought the producers were trying to push him in a pop direction with Risk, but tbh I really think him using the Rocktron Prophesy at the time had a lot to do with it. He used a lot of different tones from the amp and it seemed like he was doing a lot of experimenting. But some of it was pretty good. "Ecstasy" and "Time: The Beginning" are two of my all-time MD faves, and "Breadline" and "I'll Be There" were pretty good.
