Dave Mustaine: still spitting lyrics, railing at the world, headbanging like a 20-year-old

Meet the new Megadeth, same as the old Megadeth (and that’s a good thing) on 16th album The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!

By Philip Wilding
( Classic Rock )
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Megadeth: The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead cover art
(Image: © UMC)

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Sixteen albums in and Dave Mustaine is still pissed. And that’s meant in the American sense; no one wants to see him back on the sauce. Some people say the lockdown was a bad thing. But not for Megadeth and their latest record. Isolation and introspection have made for a better, more cohesive Megadeth album. 

Which is to say it sounds like old-school Megadeth. Not even his chemo treatment for cancer during the recording could slow Mustaine down. Here he’s still spitting out lyrics, railing at the world, headbanging like a 20-year-old. 

Occasionally things are wide of the mark, such as with the ponderous Junkie, but that’s mostly an anomaly in a record full of snarky, sneering metal that has the punky energy of a new band on the block. Cases in point: Life In Hell, Killing Time, Night Stalkers. 

Bring on the live shows, I’m taking T-shirt money.

Philip Wilding
Philip Wilding

Philip Wilding is a novelist, journalist, scriptwriter, biographer and radio producer. As a young journalist he criss-crossed most of the United States with bands like Motley Crue, Kiss and Poison (think the Almost Famous movie but with more hairspray). More latterly, he’s sat down to chat with bands like the slightly more erudite Manic Street Preachers, Afghan Whigs, Rush and Marillion.