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

After the release of the useless abomination that is Super Collider, Megadeth decided to pull things together and go back to the thrash metal vintage that most people associate them with. The outcome, Dystopia from 2016, was a great return to form and proved that there is still a lot of gas left in Dave Mustaine’s creative tank. That was 6 years ago though, and to say that the world has gone through enormous changes in those years would be an understatement. For that reason, one may wonder how Megadeth would respond to these changes. The album that would show this reaction, suitably titled The Sick, The Dying… And Dead, was released a couple of weeks before this review is written and proved that Megadeth’s adaptation was non-existent.

In many aspects, The Sick, The Dying… And Dead! continues the musical paths established on Dystopia, which is an exclusively good thing because it’s made up of the things that Megadeth does best and what most people want them to do. Yet, there are still signs of experimentation on the album, and not the type of experimentation that gave rise to useless pieces of s***s like Risk or The World Needs A Hero. It’s experimentation done right, experimentation that make the songs interesting and worthy of listening to more than once. For example, there are a couple of longer songs by Megadeth standards (6+ minutes), and there are a lot of interesting musical arrangements on the album too. Some acoustic sections, some weird intros and outros… you name it. However, none of these things would have mattered if the songs sucked. Luckily, they don’t.

I heard this album twice the day it was released and something that striked me was how consistent the material was. As with every album, you will find songs that you like more than others. What surprised me though, was that where no songs on the album that I disliked. All the songs were good. Some of them even great. Every song had parts or sections that I, despite the fact that I haven’t listen to the album in over a week, remember and can recall being good. That’s a true sign of a consistent album.

Musically, The Sick, The Dying… And Dead!, can be considered as a mix of everything that makes Megadeth a great band. My favorites songs has always tended to be the fast ones, and this album is no exception. The 2nd track for example, “Life In Hell”, is a relentless, unapologetic thrasher with some monster riffs and a very memorable chorus. The following song, “Night Stalker”, is most likely my favorite song on the album. It’s built around a fast and aggressive basis but still has a lot of variety to it, including an acoustic outro and a killer break that includes a spoken interlude by rapper Ice-T. This is one of the few times ever that I’ve heard rap in a metal song and liked it. I think it sounds great. Elsewhere on the album, you can find the melodic side of the band, particularly in the interesting and dynamic title track and “Sacrifice”, which has some really beautiful melodic leads. There are also a couple of “tongue-in-cheek” songs like “Junkie” and “Mission To Mars”, which are great musically but silly lyrically. Many people have expressed distaste for these songs because of their lyrics, because as we all know, bands can’t have fun once in a while. No, no, no. Unacceptable. I don’t care about that, because for me lyrics aren’t as vital as for many other people.

Overall, I find The Sick, The Dying… And Dead! to be a great album and a worthy follow up to Dystopia. Is it better than that album? Only time will tell, but as it is right now, I would probably say that it is. It’s more varied and I find the songwriting to be more consistent than on Dystopia. It’s not as good as Endgame, which still is the best album of Megadeth’s “modern” era (United Abominations and onwards) by a long shot for me, but I would definitely consider placing The Sick, The Dying… And Dead! at nr. 2 on that list.