UMUR
"The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!" is the sixteenth full-length studio album by US thrash/heavy metal act Megadeth. The album was released through Universal Music Group in September 2022. It´s the successor to "Dystopia" from January 2016 and there´s been a couple of lineup changes since the predecessor as drummer Chris Adler (who was never a permanent member of Megadeth) has been replaced by Dirk Verbeuren. Bassist David Ellefson who was dismissed from the band due to the much publicised case involving a young woman and some internet sex has not been replaced here. Ellefson had actually already finished recording his bass tracks for "The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!", but band leader/lead vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine opted to delete Ellefson´s recordings and hire session bassist Steve DiGiorgio instead. DiGiorgio recorded new bass tracks and Megadeth were ready to release "The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!". Another contributing factor to the 6 years between "Dystopia" and "The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!" is the fact that Mustaine was diagnosed with throat cancer in may 2019 and had to spend the better part of a half year being treated and recovering from the treatments. The COVID-19 pandemic lockdown is another reason for the long time between album releases.
Difficult births sometimes produce excellent results, and while "The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!" not always falls into that catagory, it´s overall a good quality release. Stylistically it´s not an album featuring many surprises, and in many ways it´s a natural successor to "Dystopia" as "The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!" features both fast-paced thrash/speed metal tracks, mid-paced heavy thrash/heavy metal tracks, and some more melodic inclined heavy metal tracks too. Just as the case was on the predecessor Mustaine sounds like he has lost some of his ealier snarling power and grit, and sometimes it sounds like he is talking the vocal lines instead of singing them. Again that was also the case on "Dystopia", so it´s no surprise, but just a fact which needs to be mentioned when describing the album. I´m not hugely bothered by it, but it´s a slight issue. Mustaine never had a pretty singing voice and was already an aquired taste to many ears, so the loss of vocal power is of course not a positive. Then it´s of course great that all instrumental performances are brilliant. Sharp thrash/heavy metal riffing, blistering solo work, and powerful precision drumming from Verbeuren. DiGiorgio is more subdued than usual and stay true to Megadeth´s style. I´m sure that was a good idea, although we all know what the man is capable of when let loose.
The regular version of the album features 12 tracks and a total playing time of 55:06 minutes. The deluxe version features two bonus tracks which are covers of "Police Truck" by Dead Kennedys and "This Planet's On Fire (Burn In Hell)" by Sammy Hagar. The album opens with the title track which is one of the more remarkable tracks on the album, and then "Life in Hell", which is also a great quality track. "Night Stalkers" features one of the fastest thrash metal riffs we´ve heard from Megadeth in a long time, and it´s also a standout track (also featuring a guest vocal performance from Ice-T). But after the first three tracks it becomes a little more so and so with the quality and the memorability of the tracks. Nothing is awful or of a bad quality (although the lyrics to "Mission to Mars" are a little cringe worthy), but quite a few tracks feel like filler material.
"The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!" is well produced, featuring a powerful, detailed, and clear sounding production. The drums have a dry artificial quality to them, and they could have prospered from a more organic tone, but other than that this album is well produced. So "The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!" is another Megadeth album where you get everything you´d expect from a post-2000 Megadeth album. Some days I´m content with what I´m hearing, because it´s what I expected from them, but sometimes when I put my critical cap on, I´m questioning how great this really is. Is this one of the best Megadeth albums in their discography...hell no. Is this one of the worst albums in their discography...nope not that either, so in my opinion it lands in the upper half of the good yet relatively standard quality releases from the band. Therefore a 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.
