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

I wasn't expecting this album to be anything special. All signs seemed to point to another overindulgent modern Megadeth album, rife with the very same rampant self-plagiarism and rehashing which has plagued their comeback arc since at least United Abominations, but I was dead wrong. Instead, Mustaine and Co. unleashed one of their best albums in recent memory, one which can certainly go toe to toe with (and even outdo) Dystopia and Endgame. I'm talking fast, syncopated riffs, fun harmonies, and apocalyptic lyricism. On paper, this sounds just like classic Megadeth, and shockingly, it kind of does in practice as well. Let's not get too crazy here though, this new album isn't as great as the classics, but like those star-studded Megadeth masterpieces such as Peace Sells and Rust In Peace, this one is bursting with a ton of originality and other various pluses.

Although I think this album is pretty great, I'd like to start off with a few negatives. There's a little bit too much talking on here, sometimes manifesting as bad sing-talking a la The World Needs A Hero, but other times as narration. On other albums such as Countdown to Extinction, there were one or two parts like that, but here it's just a tad overloaded. Secondly, and I'm not sure if this is just a streaming thing (I don't physically own this album), but there's actually quite a bit of digital clipping happening, at least on the Spotify version. The production also varies a bunch between tracks, (especially the guitar tones), which honestly doesn't bother me, but it is definitely worth mentioning. Lastly, some have said that Dave's vocals are bad on here, but I would say he's actually not bad at all, definitely a lot better than on previous ventures such as Th1rt3en and Super Collider. For an old dude, he could sound a hell of a lot worse, and I was actually pretty impressed he can pull off vocals like these after years of drugs and god-damned throat cancer. I say give the man a break.

The rest of it though? Pretty damn great. I'll start by mentioning that the rhythm section sounds awesome, with Dirk's drums being especially fun to listen to. SDG's tone is immaculate, and while I wanted a few more standout moments than there ended up being, I'm glad for the ones we got, such as his solo from Night Stalkers. It would be a crime to not mention Kiko's lead guitar work here as well, what a treat! I can be a bit of a Poland/Friedman elitist when it comes to Megadeth lead guitarists, but Kiko really came into his own here, he does an even better job here than on Dystopia. Like I said, Dave's vocals are pretty good all things considered, sounding a lot like Endgame especially, certainly not his worst performance ever or anything.

After over six years of waiting, some truly outstanding material was expected. They delivered, with several great tracks such as Dogs of Chernobyl, which melds United Abominations/Endgame slow parts with a great Peace Sellsy thrash section. That's something I forgot to mention, actually: the band blends the various styles of previous Megadeth albums on here, but it's all done very tastefully without ripping themselves off like UA's Sleepwalker or the title track of Dystopia. There are tons of riffs which sound like they could fit right in with those older albums, yet they also remain fresh and new. Coming back to the tracks, I really loved Life in Hell, its syncopated pentatonic riffs ooze that classic Megadeth feel (likewise for Night Stalkers) and its 6/8 bridge, which features actually good narration, was very Countdowny (in a good way). Killing Time also definitely channels Countdown/Youthanasia, with obvious Cryptic Writings-isms as well, and despite it not being very thrashy like the others, it's also very great. Even some of those deeper, less talked-about cuts such as Sacrifice were pretty awesome too.

People are coming down HARD on this album, and I really don't see why. It's got a few issues, but most Megadeth albums do. It's got very few overtly shitty aspects, and the self-plagiarism is basically non-existent here. This reached #3 on the US charts, and frankly, it deserves it. If this ends up being the very last Megadeth record, it's the perfect place to end their long career. That being said, I do hope they will, in fact, be back, as they promised with the final track.