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

Growing up as a metalhead in the 2000's wasn't an easy situation. While the scene kids found their fixes in bands like Slipknot, Korn and System Of A Down, I personally strayed toward the opposite way by backtracking to what my dad had raised me on as a kiddo in the 90s. He was a 1980s metalhead to the fullest extent and thus I had an expert with a rich vinyl collection at my disposal. When I eventually came around to discover thrash metal and becoming drowned in its many great acts, the big one that stood out among the rest was Megadeth. They became my savior in the midst of all the crappy alternative and nu metal that was popular at the time. I used to proclaim "Dave Mustaine for president" all over the Internet. That's the impact and personal investment that went into Megadeth at one point in my life.

But like oh so many things in life, my relationship with Megadeth would eventually turn sour as Dave Mustaine's born-again views and political rants became more frequent in media. To make matters worse, the band really took a bad turn musically after the excellent Endgame album, whose title fitted perfectly for where Megadeth and I had our last good time together. But while the 2010s proved to be a very weak decade for Megadeth's musical output, as reflected upon in my review for 2016's Dystopia, we now stand in a new decade with yet another personnel change, new opportunities and another six years worth of life experiences for Dave Mustaine to take inspiration from. So, have this lengthy wait and the band's internal changes improved or changed anything? Uhm, sadly not...

Listening to Megadeth's new album in 2022 feels more or less the same as it did listening to the most mediocre Th1rt3en back in 2011. Well, with the exception of being better prepared and not expecting as much this time around. Because despite the band now being over ten years older (and supposedly wiser) and consisting of an entirely different backing band to help Mustaine's musical vision come to life, it sounds just as dull and uninspired as it did six, nine and eleven years ago, respectively.

My first impression of The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead! was that it came walking rather than busting through the gates with its title-track; a melodic mid-tempo number that does little to create any hype whatsoever. "Life In Hell" ups the tempo a notch but also adds to the mediocrity. "Night Stalkers", one of the album's singles, has hints of the old riff-catchy Megadeth I used to know and love, but something about it is just plodding away too much. There's some coloring going on with "Dogs Of Chernobyl" which sounds like it could've come off of 1994's Youthanasia, but not quite of that album's caliber. The same could be said for "Mission To Mars" which may just be my favorite number on this album. But overall there's a feeling that not much is really going on within this record. A few songs have semi-decent riffs but most of the tunes sound improperly conceived to my ears. A riff here and a nice melody there don't cover up for uninspired and bland songwriting, something which has become painfully evident on the last few Megadeth albums.

Another issue I had with Dystopia was its production values. It had a decent mix that lacked bite but did its job well enough. The mastering was also yet another victim of the loudness wars and unfortunately, I can only confirm it's the same case with this album. There's clipping all throughout its duration and the mixing sounds particularly flat this time around. With songs as half-assed as these it's basically like adding insult to injury to make them sound as weak and flat as they're presented here. It's usually of little value but sometimes I find that a good mix can partially salvage what is otherwise a weaker selection of songs. In this case, however, it only doubles down on the boring listening experience.

The one quality you can always expect and count on from a Megadeth album is solid musicianship. This case is no different. But what you can't expect these days is the fun and vigor of masterpieces like Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? and Rust In Peace. Despite having a nuclear arsenal of musicians at his disposal, Dave Mustaine once again chooses to play it safe and keep everything toned down. As a drummer I was particularly interested in hearing what album-debuting Dirk Verbeuren would bring to the table, but sadly he's kept on a leash and only allowed to do the bare minimum. I feel like his massive chops could've come to much better (and well deserved) use, seeing as he's probably the closest match the band's had since Gar Samuelson. A truly wasted opportunity. Such a shame.

In my world Megadeth has been in steady decline for a long time. I never understood all the accolades the previous album recieved. It was a truly dull affair to these ears and it essentially showed a band living on past merits and going through the motions. While it's not really saying much, I can at least acknowledge that this album is a slight improvement over their works from the previous decade. But it's still a far cry from the levels of United Abominations and Endgame, not to mention the band's 1985-1994 era. There's bits and pieces of good stuff going on here but they're few and far between. The songs just aren't there anymore. Like I lamented in my Dystopia review, Dave Mustaine just isn't in the same place anymore. He and his life have most certainly changed too much to thrash as hard as he used to. I've lost all hope for Megadeth to ever bang out a real scorcher again and I won't cross my fingers for it to happen either. But I low-key wish that Dave Mustaine will dig deeper into himself and find back to what made him crank out something like Endgame merely 13 years ago. Maybe it's not yet too late and there's some spark left in him, somewhere. I just won't hold my breath in waiting to see if it happens.

I can't really recommend or warrant a purchase of this album unless you're a die-hard fanboy or collector.

Check-outs: Mission To Mars, Dogs Of Chernobyl, Soldier On!