Writing and Recording
Mustaine stated he did not "go into making this record with any pre-conceived notions". He said some of the lyrics on United Abominations were written about his frustration with his past record labels, stating "a lot of that translated into the intensity on the record." Mustaine wrote the songs for the album in an attempt to "stir something in the minds of the listener". The lyrics of the album were mostly about choices the American government were making at the time, which Mustaine found to be foolish. Mustaine stated recording the new songs was "super fun", despite having troubles with some of the complex music and vocal arrangements. All of the lyrics and music, with the exception of one song, were written by Mustaine. "Never Walk Alone... A Call to Arms" was co-written by Mustaine and guitarist Glen Drover. When bassist James Lomenzo was asked about the lyrics of the album, he said to "talk to Dave about that". Although most of the band had no writing credits on the album, they stated that they were excited about recording the music.
United Abominations was recorded in 2006 at SARM Hook End Studios, London, England; the Steakhouse, Studio City, California; Big Fish Encinitas, California and Backstage Productions. Additional overdubs were recorded at S.I.R. rehearsal studio, Hollywood, California and Mustaine Music, Fallbrook, California. Most of the record was tracked in England because frontman Dave Mustaine admired the fact that his favorite band, Led Zeppelin, previously recorded there many times. Mustaine produced the album, with additional production handled by Jeff Balding and Andy Sneap.
Track 8, "À Tout le Monde (Set Me Free)", is a remake of "À Tout le Monde" originally appearing on the 1994 album Youthanasia. The song is a more uptempo version of the original song, and features Lacuna Coil vocalist Cristina Scabbia singing backing vocals. Scabbia stated she was "really surprised about it because 'À Tout Le Monde' is a song that I've always loved. It was a big surprise for me to get this invitation —I was really honored to be part of it." Mustaine chose Scabbia over three other choices because of her "reign in the heavy-metal business". Mustaine later stated that he originally intended for the song to be a B-side for Japan, but the president of Roadrunner Records (Megadeth's label for this release) wanted "À Tout le Monde (Set Me Free)" released as the album's first single.
The song "Gears of War" is featured on the soundtrack to the video game of the same name. Initially, the song had no lyrics; however, Microsoft approached Megadeth, asking to use the song in Gears of War. The band accepted the offer and wrote lyrics for the song, but it was too late to use the lyrics in the version for the video game, as the game was near completion.
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