Album of the Week 34-2022: Megadeth – The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!
Dave Mustaine is the only musician from thrash metal’s heyday who can occasionally still write material that is just as good as his classic work. And given the strength of the first two singles of ‘The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!’, Megadeth’s new album instantly became my most anticipated release of the year. While the album isn’t quite as thrashy as those two tracks may have suggested, ‘The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!’ is easily my favorite Megadeth album since ‘The System Has Failed’ eighteen years ago. It might even be more consistently good than some of the albums from their classic era.
Overall, ‘The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!’ sounds slightly more traditional than the modern bite of its predecessor ‘Dystopia’. Stylistically, it sits somewhere between the clever speed metal of ‘Rust In Peace’ and the surprsingly successful marriage of vicious, intricate riffs and relatively laid-back rhythms of the heaviest moments on ‘Countdown To Extinction’, leaning closer to the former compositionally. Production-wise, the album also feels pleasantly old-school; the guitars have lost nothing of their sharp edge, but they sound less compressed and more like a band playing together in a room rather than a studio-constructed project this time around.
Where ‘The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!’ really shines, however, is in its songwriting. Every song on the album has its own character. Sure, a lot of mileage is pulled out of palm-muting the lowest string in various rhythmic variations, but what happens between those notes makes every song instantly recognizable. And despite many contributions from guitarist Kiko Loureiro and drummer Dirk Verbeuren, both relative newcomers, it all sounds like Megadeth. Prime Megadeth even. Except it doesn’t run out of steam near the end, which most Megadeth albums appear to do. But that cannot be anything else than an improvement.
Singles ‘We’ll Be Back’ and ‘Night Stalkers’ are standout tracks, but fortunately not the only ones. ‘Life In Hell’ is full of classic Megadeth riffs and cool solos, while ‘Dogs Of Chernobyl’ and the opening title track are somewhat epic heavy metal tracks, albeit with that typical Mustaine riffing. ‘Soldier On’ is a bit more upbeat and taditional, while ‘Célebutante’ will probably turn out to be one of the hidden gems here. Its placement in the tracklisting might make it easy to miss, but its early NWOBHM-inspired thrash riffs are too cool to skip and its surprisingly melodic middle section opens the track up very nicely.
Most thrash metal bands that still release good records these days often have their albums labelled “best since”. ‘The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!’, however, largely sounds exactly like fans of classic Megadeth would want the band to sound. There might be a few more traditional heavy metal influences than usual, but if anything, that is an asset for the album. Although the first two singles made me expect something good, ‘The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead’ surpasses my expectations. I’d be extremely surprised if any better metal albums are released this year.
Recommended tracks: ‘Night Stalkers’, ‘Célebutante’, ‘We’ll Be Back’, ‘Life In Hell’
Kevy Metal 
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