The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!

Good gravy, I did not expect this from Megadeth. I don’t mean “oh Megadeth made a bad album” because they’ve made a few of those over the past 30 years. No, I mean that they follow up the best album that they’ve made since Countdown to Extinction… with basically nothing. Turbogeneric doesn’t even begin to describe the album and the fact that it came from Megadeth is definitely a surprise. Say what you will for Cryptic Writings or Risk – at least they were outright bad! Not something that simply exists as a collection of thrashy riffs and shreddy solos that probably sound fine if not cool as shit on their own terms but dull as shit when stitched together into the 12 songs that happen to be on this here album. Sad to say, The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead is quite a disappointment.

Much of the issue is the tag-team of generic riffs and overproduction. Now, the latter wouldn’t be a huge issue – provided it’s merely overproduction and not plain botched like their remasters – if the former wasn’t the case. Even bad riffs can at least sound charming or at least elicit something with this overly glossy production. But mediocre riffs end up sounding largely like this wall of sound, just buzzing around you expecting you to give a damn. The melodies are virtually indistinguishable beyond the most standard, ordinary vaguely shreddy thrash rhythms – something Megadeth had perfected over 30 years ago with much better riffs. I… guess the title song has the best melody, mainly because it’s got some life to it. Although “Night Stalkers” comes second through virtue of Ice-T’s lines, which certainly have a whole hell of a lot more life than much of the rest of the song. At least Mustaine and Loureiro can still shred out some killer solos here and there, but as far as the boring riffs and tired vocals are concerned, the songs end up going in one ear and out the other.

Considering all that, the album is quite long, and there just isn’t anything justifying it. Some songs try to go beyond what’s effectively 2010s-style retraux thrash – there’s the aforementioned Ice-T section, “Dogs of Chernobyl” attempts more atmospheric moments with its slower bits, and… okay, well, that’s about it really. Oddly enough, those two songs broach the six minute barrier. But because of their largely monotonous compositions, they feel like they hit the six hour mark! On the whole, you get nearly an hour of… I guess some cool solos here and there? Juxtaposed by increasingly redundant compositions made up of nothing riffs, it’s difficult to really recommend this album to anybody who isn’t a mega fan.

Much like Running Wild’s Blood on Blood from last year, Megadeth follow up their first good album in about 30 years… with their most boring and inconsequential album to date – and we're talking about a discography that includes fucking Super Collider!