Megadeth will cap a summer of successful global touring with the release of its highly anticipated sixteenth studio album, “The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!”, on September 2 via UMe. Featuring twelve new tracks, “The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!” will be made available on CD, vinyl, and cassette, as well as digitally through all online partners. There will also be a limited deluxe edition 2LP, 12-track album pressed on 180g black vinyl housed in a numbered gatefold jacket with a 12×24 lyrics/credits insert, a lenticular vinyl lithograph and a bonus seven-inch featuring ‘We’ll Be Back’ and the unreleased B-side ‘The Conjuring (Live)’. The limited deluxe edition can only be purchased via Megadeth‘s official online store, through Sound Of Vinyl and uDiscover.
The first song to be released from “The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!” is the ferocious, quintessentially Megadeth track ‘We’ll Be Back’, which is accompanied by the world premiere of “We’ll Be Back: Chapter I”, an epic, action-packed short film chronicling the origins of Megadeth‘s mascot, Vic Rattlehead. Produced by Dave Mustaine, “We’ll Be Back: Chapter I” is a soldier’s tale of bravery, personal sacrifice, and the will to survive. It is the first installment of a trilogy of videos to be released in conjunction with the release of the new album “The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!”
“The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!” consolidates a furious return to form that began with the Grammy-winning “Dystopia”, while pushing forward musically and marking Mustaine‘s recent triumph over throat cancer. Reuniting visionary Megadeth leader and sonic architect Dave Mustaine with co-producer Chris Rakestraw (Danzig, Parkway Drive),who together helmed 2016’s “Dystopia”, the album was recorded at Mustaine‘s home studio in Nashville, Tennessee, with guitarist Kiko Loureiro and drummer Dirk Verbeuren. Bassist Steve DiGiorgio temporarily stepped in to record the album. With the kick-off of Megadeth‘s recent tour, Megadeth alumni James LoMenzo rejoined the Megadeth family as permanent bass player.
“For the first time in a long time, everything that we needed on this record is right in its place,” Dave Mustaine enthused. “I can’t wait for the public to get hold of this!”
Featuring some of Mustaine‘s strongest songwriting while also incorporating writing from the rest of the band, “The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!” brings together everything that’s exhilarating and distinctive about Megadeth. From the blistering throwback fury of ‘Night Stalkers’ (featuring icon Ice-T) and first single ‘We’ll Be Back’, to the more mid-tempo and melodic ‘Soldier On!’ and the very personal title track, with its enthralling twists and turns. “The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!” also features a cover of Dead Kennedy’s‘ ‘Police Truck’ and Sammy Hagar‘s ‘This Planet’s On Fire’, the latter of which includes vocals from Hagar himself.
“The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!” melds the ultra-frenetic riffing, fiercely intricate solos, and adventurous spirit the quartet are known for, all laced with signature virtuosity and precision and Mustaine‘s singular sardonic snarl. This album combines all the crushing musical motifs that have made Megadeth both repeat metal disruptors and revered genre flagbearers.
Mustaine spoke about ‘Night Stalkers’ in an interview earlier this year with Jose Mangin of SiriusXM Liquid Metal. He said: “It’s a brutal song. I can’t remember if that was the fastest one [on the new album] or not. But ‘Night Stalkers’ is about the 160th Battalion with the United States Army, and it’s all the black-ops helicopters that go in at night — nobody knows they’re there; they’re in, they’re out. And I had my buddy Ice-T join me on a part in the middle of it, because Ice was a ranger for the army, and he did two tours over in Afghanistan, I think it was. I think that was back in ’91, when I first met him. It might have been a little earlier than that, but I know he was a ranger. And I had just done something on his last record. But when I asked him, I thought it would be great to have him because of his bravado and then the fact that he’s got real credibility as someone who was there. And then we’ve got several other guys to participate in the track just to make it as real as possible. We’re going up to the base to go film a bunch of helicopter footage and sounds and stuff like that. We’ve got three videos that we’re making for this record right now down in Brazil, and we’re combining all that production and the stuff from the base, with the helicopters and everything together, to make this first three-song video offering up.”
Regarding Hagar‘s contribution to ‘This Planet’s On Fire’, Mustaine told SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”: “It’s a super-heavy song. And the good thing about this [is] we didn’t just do the song; [Sammy] played on it too. So we’ve got a little bit of some guitar; we’ve got a lot of bit of singing. I think it’s super badass.”
As for Megadeth‘s decision to cover ‘Police Truck’, Mustaine said: “It’s no secret I’m a big Dead Kennedys fan, and I had wanted to do ‘Holiday In Cambodia’, but my friends in Lääz Rockit had done that, and I felt that [I would] just let them have their glory off of that rendition of that song, and if the time comes, I’m sure there’s another song that’ll stick out to me. And there was — it was the song ‘Police Truck’. So we recorded that one.”
“The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!” track listing:
- The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!
- Life In Hell
- Night Stalkers (feat. Ice T)
- Dogs Of Chernobyl
- Sacrifice
- Junkie
- Psychopathy
- Killing Time
- Soldier On!
- Célebutante
- Mission To Mars
- We’ll Be Back
- Police Truck (Dead Kennedys cover)
- This Planet’s On Fire (Burn In Hell) (Sammy Hagar cover) (feat. Sammy Hagar)
Megadeth’s fifteenth studio album “Dystopia” has been released on frontman and guitarist Dave Mustaine‘s Tradecraft label via Universal on January 22, 2016. The album was produced by Mustaine and Chris Rakestraw and features cover artwork by Brent Elliot White.
“Dystopia” was the first album to feature Brazilian guitarist Kiko Loureiro, best known for his work with Angra.
Our review of “Dystopia” can be found here.
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