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

Considering how much I loved Dystopia, you can imagine my disappointment in discovering that Dave and co.’s latest release is, to put it scientifically, hot garbage. Ever since the classic lineup split in the late-90s, it’s basically been anybody’s guess on whether the next Megadeth album would be good, alright, or trash. The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead! is one that reeks of trying hard in every facet. This has been a problem for most of the weaker areas of every record, but man does it ever shine bright here.

First, let’s strip away the glaring issues for a minute and look at the core. The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead! does very little at its base to stand apart regarding the main idea. Filling this record are generic heavy metal riffs one after the other that are way too produced for their own good, topped by far-too-clearly-aged vocals. Again, this is somewhat of a consistent issue with newer Megadeth, but it can be far overlooked if the songwriting is good, the progression compelling, or energy boasted aggressively. This hits zero of those marks.

But enough about what this isn’t. Atop this very basic idea that can sometimes be built on is horrible attempts at dramatic shifts and even worse attempts at sounding fierce. The common theme is world demise, apocalypse, and general catastrophe (wow, never would have seen that coming!). Thus, it’s no surprise that this is overloaded with apocalyptic samples and corny spoken word cheese over boring riffs, something that also plagued The World Needs A Hero. The softer cues in the title track and “Night Stalkers” feel forced, awkward, and transitioned poorly. “Killing Time” reaches for the catchy fallback in the chorus, but instead it’s forgettable. “Soldier On” aims for the power-stance gallop, but just goes on and on leading to nothing interesting.

Also, this is way too fucking long. “Night Stalkers” and “Dogs Of Chernobyl” did not need to surpass six minutes, let alone the whole record nearly reach an hour. Both tracks are dragged out, loaded with uninspired thrash rhythms and vocals brought way too high into the mix. In the former, Dave tries so hard to boast a terrified tone, and instead it just sounds tired. Oh, and you better believe there’s an edgy wargasmic track in the bridge (featuring Ice-T). The latter has all sorts of predictable sampling and poor attempts at softer suspense that leads into an otherwise unflattering thrasher with unconvincing vocals. Weak, weak, weak.

Really, the best way to sum it up is taking all of the problems that existed in every record since 1999 and compiling them into one massive heap of shit. Bad lyrics, corny rhyming, stupid samples, generic production, shoddy vocals, and boring riffing can all be spotted at different areas of the last two decades, some albums far more than others. But at least those have something to either save them, or make it less-bad at best. There’s none of that here. Not one song stands out as good or impressive, and I can confidently say that Megadeth have dethroned Metallica as the band with the worst Big 4 album. Take a seat, St. Anger, you’ve been moved to second place.