# The Sick the Dying and the Dead: Megadeth 2022 Album Review

*Film, TV & Music · Marcus Reed · 2026-08-07*

## TL;DR

Megadeth released The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead! on September 2, 2022. It is their sixteenth studio album and first without longtime bassist David Ellefson. The record features guest appearances from Ice-T and Steve DiGiorgio, with drummer Dirk Verbeuren making his full studio debut with the band.

## Key facts

- The album was released on September 2, 2022, via Tradecraft/Universal Music.
- Dave Mustaine handles lead vocals and guitars, with Kiko Loureiro on guitar and Dirk Verbeuren on drums.
- Ice-T delivers guest vocals on the track "Night Stalkers," marking a notable crossover collaboration.
- Steve DiGiorgio performs bass on the majority of the album following David Ellefson's departure from the band.
- The record debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart, the band's highest charting position ever.

## A Comeback That Feels Like a Statement

When Megadeth finally unleashed *The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!* on September 2, 2022, it had been a long, bumpy road to get there. This is the band's first album since 2016's *Dystopia* and their 16th studio album overall, arriving after multiple delays that tested even the most patient fans. The wait, as it turns out, was worth examining closely, because this record captures a band in transition, still finding its footing after a turbulent shakeup.

The turbulence was real. In May 2021, longtime bassist David Ellefson was dismissed from the band under circumstances that dominated metal headlines. Rather than scrap the recordings, frontman Dave Mustaine brought in Steve DiGiorgio to re-record all the bass parts, a move that gave the album a fresh low-end punch while closing a chapter in Megadeth's history. By the time the record hit shelves, the lineup had shifted again, and the band was clearly eager to prove it could move forward.

What emerged is a blend of classic 80s thrash and modern Megadeth, with Mustaine's signature riffs and sharp commentary woven throughout every track. The album opens with a haunted atmosphere and never quite lets go, carrying the kind of restless energy that has defined the band across four decades. As we dive into this track-by-track journey, we will hear from Mustaine himself, who has plenty to say about the stories behind these songs, the creative decisions, and the unexpected connections that shaped the record. It is a look at where Megadeth stands in 2022 and where it might be headed next.

## The Title Track: Plague, Nursery Rhymes, and a First in Megadeth History

For the first time in the band's four-decade career, Megadeth put the album's namesake song in the number one slot. "The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!" opens the 2022 record of the same name, a placement that had never happened before in their catalog. It's a bold choice, and one that immediately signals this isn't business as usual.

The track also holds another distinction: it's one of only two songs on the album written solely by Dave Mustaine, with the other being "Junkie." Everything else came together with help from guitarist Kiko Loureiro or drummer Dirk Verbeuren. For a band leader known for his iron grip on the creative process, that's a notable shift.

Listen closely and you might think Mustaine was reacting to the pandemic that gripped the world in 2020 and 2021. The imagery of sickness, death, and isolation feels painfully contemporary. But Mustaine pushes back hard on that reading. He insists the song isn't about COVID-19 at all. It's about the Black Death, the bubonic plague that swept through Europe in the 14th century and wiped out a staggering portion of the population.

The inspiration came from an unlikely place: a nursery rhyme. "Ring Around the Rosy" is the childhood sing-along that, according to folklore, secretly describes plague symptoms and burial practices. The "pocket full of posies" was meant to ward off the stench of disease. "Ashes, ashes" supposedly refers to cremation. Mustaine finds it darkly funny that kindergarteners have been chanting about plague doctors and death rituals for generations without having any idea what they're saying.

The song opens with mournful church bells tolling, followed by a cry of "bring out your dead," a direct nod to the plague carts that collected bodies from medieval streets. From there, classic Mustaine riffs take over, delivering a heavy, thrash-tinged sound that feels both familiar and urgent. There are moments that drift toward Iron Maiden territory, adding a melodic layer to the aggression.

It's not the strongest track on the album, but as an opening statement, it sets the tone perfectly. The atmosphere is grim, the musicianship is sharp, and Mustaine's signature "yeah yeah" vocals punctuate the chaos. For a band staring down its own legacy, it's a confident way to say: we're still here, and we're still digging into the dark corners of history.

## Life in Hell and Night Stalkers: Dirk's Riffs, Ice-T's Verse, and a 1991 Friendship

Dirk Verbeuren, the drummer who joined Megadeth from the Swedish metal band Soilwork, earned his first writing credits with the group on two tracks from *The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!*: "Life in Hell" and "Night Stalkers." Both songs arrived on the September 2, 2022 album as proof that the new blood in the rhythm section brought more than just steady timekeeping.

"Life in Hell" hits the ground running with a high-tempo riff that Verbeuren wrote himself. The song moves with real momentum, though the chorus leans on a melodic style Dave Mustaine favored throughout the 2000s, which keeps it from feeling entirely fresh. Lyrically, Mustaine paints a portrait of a narcissistic character who believes he can do anything without facing consequences. The lines call out someone who lies, steals, and deceives everyone, then begs for diplomatic immunity when finally caught in the act.

"Night Stalkers" opens with something fiercer, a more aggressive riff that some fans have called cluttered or muddy, but which carries a genuine bite. Watching Mustaine, at 61 years old, push his vocals to keep pace with that ferocious tempo is genuinely impressive. The song tells the story of a special operations helicopter unit that flies dangerous missions under cover of darkness, performing rescue and destruction operations alike. Ice-T's background as a former U.S. Army paratrooper influenced why he was chosen for the track, as Mustaine and the band have noted.

Ice-T's appearance on "Night Stalkers" came after a friendship that began in 1991. When someone asked Mustaine to name his top five albums of that year, he listed Ice-T's *Original Gangster* five times. Ice-T heard about this and was genuinely moved, deciding he had to meet the guy. They have been friends ever since. Mustaine put it simply: "We've been friends for a long time; not as close as I'd like, but we're good friends." The collaboration also made sense as a return visit, since Mustaine had contributed vocals and a solo to Ice-T's band Body Count on their 2017 track "Civil War."

After Ice-T's verse, the song shifts into an acoustic bridge with bass work from Steve DiGiorgio that stands out as a highlight, even if some listeners think the track runs a bit long. That bass part carried extra weight given the circumstances: after David Ellefson was dismissed from Megadeth, his recorded bass tracks were wiped from the album and DiGiorgio re-recorded them all. The result is a record where the bass duties fell to a session player who brought his own technical flair to nearly every track, including this one.

## Dogs of Chernobyl: A Love Story, Not a Disaster Song

If you hear the title "Dogs of Chernobyl" and brace yourself for a grim meditation on nuclear catastrophe, you're not alone. But the fourth track on Megadeth's 2022 album *The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!* is actually something far more personal: a slow-burning ballad about a love story that ends in abandonment, using the abandoned dogs of the exclusion zone as a devastating metaphor. It's the song that lingers longest after the record stops spinning.

The track opens with slow, crushing guitar and drums that feel like they're being dragged through mud. Then, just when you've settled into the gloom, the drums and bass accelerate and the whole thing explodes into a heavy riff with a chorus that refuses to leave your head. Every second of it feels sincere, soulful, and dark in a way that only Dave Mustaine can pull off at this stage of his career. The acoustic opening gives way to a hard-edged finish, and in between sits what might be the most emotionally resonant moment on the entire album.

Lyrically, the song finds its narrator asking a woman why she left him behind "like the dogs in Chernobyl," melting away in the exclusion zone. Mustaine, who has a habit of using unexpected imagery in his songwriting, has been clear that the title is purely metaphorical. The real subject is heartbreak, not radiation. He's called it, in his own words, another twisted love song.

Given the timing, you might wonder why anyone would write about Chernobyl in 2022, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine raging and the nuclear plant back in the headlines. Here's the thing: Mustaine wrote the song long before the invasion. The timing was pure coincidence, and he's pushed back hard against anyone suggesting he's exploiting a tragedy. "Am I that kind of person?" he's asked, genuinely offended by the implication. He wasn't trying to profit from people in a terrible situation. He just wrote a heartbreak song, and the world happened to catch up with his metaphor.

What's most striking about "Dogs of Chernobyl" isn't just the song itself, though. It's that Mustaine, at 61 years old, is still operating at this creative level in 2022. The man who helped define thrash metal in the 1980s is still finding new ways to make the genre feel alive, still crafting songs that sound both unmistakably Megadeth and genuinely fresh. This track, more than any other on the record, proves that the fire hasn't gone out.

## From Sacrifice to Junkie: Occult Pasts and Personal Demons

Two of the most personal tracks on Megadeth's 2022 album *The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!* sit side by side, and together they map the two shadows that have followed Dave Mustaine his entire adult life: the occult flirtations of his youth and the addiction that nearly consumed him. **Sacrifice** digs into black magic, while **Junkie** stares straight at substance abuse. Both are confessionals wearing the mask of metal.

The word "sacrifice" itself carries a weight most people never stop to consider. It comes from Latin, a marriage of *sacer*, meaning sacred, and *facio*, meaning to make. To sacrifice something is literally to make it holy, to hand it over to the divine and remove it from human hands forever. That etymology sits uneasily against what Mustaine does with the title. His **Sacrifice** is not about offering something pure to God. It is about black magic, the dark mirror of that sacred act.

Mustaine has been candid about his youthful dabbling in the occult. His autobiography walks through those years when he surrounded himself with people who believed magic was real, people who took the rituals seriously. He no longer takes pride in that chapter of his life. But he does not disown it either. His own reflection on those days cuts to something almost philosophical: "If you believe in something strongly enough, there's a power in your mind that convinces you it's real." That is not a boast. It is a warning from a man who has seen where conviction can lead.

Musically, **Sacrifice** is a study in contrasts. The instrumental work is technically strong, the kind of dense, layered riffing that Megadeth fans expect. But the vocal melodies and the chorus fall flat. The reviewer notes that the intro bears an uncanny resemblance to Testament's *Low*, a comparison that does the track no favors. It is a song that impresses in parts but never quite coheres into something memorable.

Then comes **Junkie**, the second song on the album written solely by Mustaine. Where **Sacrifice** reaches back to his teenage fascination with the supernatural, **Junkie** reaches into something far more personal and far more painful. Mustaine is a former addict. He has spent decades watching other people spiral through the same hell he survived, and those observations became the backbone of this track. The core theme is not the high, not the rush, but the withdrawal. The pain of being separated from the thing that owns you. The agony of wanting something so badly that your body and mind both rebel against your better judgment.

The reviewer is blunt about the result. **Junkie** is ordinary, he says, on par with material from *Super Collider*, the album many fans consider Megadeth's weakest. There is some nice guitar work toward the end, a flash of the old fire, but it arrives too late to rescue the song. It is a missed opportunity, because the subject matter deserves better than a mid-tier track.

What makes these two songs worth considering together is how honestly they expose their author. **Sacrifice** is about belief and where it can take you. **Junkie** is about dependency and what it does to you. Mustaine has lived both. He dabbled in the occult when he was young and believed hard enough to make it feel real. He fought addiction for years and watched it strip people down to nothing. These are not abstract topics for him. They are scars.

The fact that he chose to put them back to back on the album feels deliberate. One song looks at the supernatural demons he once courted. The other looks at the very human demon that nearly killed him. Together they form a kind of confession, a reminder that the man who wrote classics like "Holy Wars" and "Peace Sells" has spent his whole life wrestling with forces that most people never have to face.

## The Hidden Two-Parter: "Psychopathy" and "Killing Time"

Here's where the album plays its cleverest trick, and it's easy to miss if you're just letting the tracks roll by. "Psychopathy" isn't a song at all. It's an interlude, a brief moment where Dave Mustaine speaks over the music rather than sings, holding forth on how psychopathy and similar behavioral diagnoses have become increasingly common labels for people struggling with learning or conduct issues. Think of it as a spoken-word palate cleanser, the kind of thing that works best when you're listening to the whole record front to back rather than shuffling tracks.

But here's the structural secret that makes this stretch of the album so much more interesting: "Psychopathy" and the track that follows it, "Killing Time," were originally conceived as a single two-part song. The band reportedly planned them as one continuous piece, much like the classic "Rust in Peace... Polaris" from 1990, before deciding during production to split them apart. That lineage makes sense when you listen closely, because "Killing Time" picks up a thread that "Psychopathy" only hints at, and together they form the emotional low point of the entire record.

The music itself lands somewhere in familiar territory. "Killing Time" reminded this listener of material from *The System Has Failed*, the 2004 album that marked Megadeth's return after a brief breakup. That's not a criticism, exactly, but it's also not high praise. It's good, competent Megadeth that doesn't leave much of an impression after the final notes fade. The kind of track you enjoy while it's playing and then struggle to hum five minutes later. As interludes go, "Psychopathy" leaves a similarly light footprint, serviceable but not exactly memorable.

What elevates both tracks is what Mustaine says about them. He's described a loose narrative arc connecting three songs on the album: "Life in Hell," "Psychopathy," and "Killing Time." The arrogant, self-obsessed character introduced in "Life in Hell," the guy who thinks he can get away with anything, eventually spirals into addiction. As he tries to cover his tracks, things only get worse, and "Killing Time" captures that rock-bottom moment. It's the sound of someone who had everything watching it slip away, and Mustaine's framing gives these middle-of-the-record tracks a weight they wouldn't otherwise carry.

It's a subtle bit of storytelling, the kind of thing you'd never notice without someone pointing it out. But once you hear it, you can't unhear it. The album's loose conceptual through-line suddenly snaps into focus, and a pair of otherwise forgettable tracks becomes something worth paying attention to.

## Soldier On, Célebutante, and Mission to Mars: Nostalgia and Filler

The middle stretch of Megadeth's 2022 album takes a curious turn around track nine, where the band starts glancing backward instead of pushing forward. "Soldier On!" arrives with a vibe that immediately rubbed this listener the wrong way, summoning memories of *United Abomination*, an album he's never been fond of. The irritation runs deeper than mere dislike, though. Parts of the track sound like a carbon copy of a 2000s Megadeth song he cannot quite name, no matter how many times he listens. The melody sits right on the tip of his tongue, and every playthrough has him muttering about copy-paste before the chorus even lands.

Lyrically, the song has nothing to do with military service despite its title. Mustaine deploys his familiar metaphors to talk about relationships instead, specifically the courage required to walk away from one that's failing. If something feels wrong and you're stuck in it, his advice comes through loud and clear: get out.

Then comes "Célebutante," and the whiplash is real. After a string of post-2000 Megadeth-flavored tracks, the riffs suddenly snap back to the classic first-album era, blending that old-school nostalgia with modern production values. The title itself is a portmanteau of "celebrity" and "debutante," describing someone famous merely for being close to a celebrity. Mustaine uses the track to criticize the new generation of fame-chasers who lack the pride and dignity of old-school stars. It's one of the album's standout moments, shining alongside "Dogs of Chernobyl" among the non-single tracks, even if its placement in the running order makes it easy to overlook.

"Mission to Mars" feels like filler to the reviewer, evoking the much-maligned *Super Collider* era. The intro works well enough, but even when it picks up mid-song, it only reaches the level of "Dancing in the Rain" from that weaker album. The lyrics, with their repeated "I wanna be an astronaut" refrain, cement its status as the album's least effective track.

But Mustaine sees it differently. He calls "Mission to Mars" essentially "Peace Sells Part Two," and his explanation is pure Dave. As the story goes, he was thinking about how to make the song fun, and the music felt so ominous that the cool approach seemed to be escaping Earth for Mars, then discovering humanity actually originated on Mars and fled to Earth in a spaceship. In his telling, we didn't start on Earth and go to Mars. We started on Mars, went to Earth, then came back to Mars. It's a playful conceit that makes the track more endearing than the reviewer's "filler" label suggests, even if the execution doesn't quite match the ambition.

## We'll Be Back: The Closer That Answers the Doubters

"We'll Be Back" hit streaming services first, months before the rest of *The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!* arrived on September 2, 2022, and it remains the strongest track on the entire record. Dave Mustaine has said he wrote it specifically as a middle finger to anyone who questioned whether Megadeth still mattered in modern metal. After hearing the finished product, it's hard to argue with his confidence.

The song grabs you with a ferocity that echoes "Good Mourning/Black Friday," that 1986 classic from *Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?* The verse riff is pure vintage Mustaine, all coiled tension and menace. Then the chorus flips the script, landing squarely in that classic 2000s Megadeth territory, the kind of hook the band perfected during their *Endgame* era. It shouldn't work, this marriage of old and new, but it does. The outro deserves special mention too, modern, atmospheric, and somehow exactly what the song needed to close itself off.

Mustaine's motivation here is personal. He's spent decades hearing that Megadeth's best days were behind them, that the thrash titans of the 1980s had become a nostalgia act. "We'll Be Back" is his rebuttal, delivered in the only language he truly speaks, six strings and a snarl. The title alone reads as a promise, and the music backs it up with conviction.

For my money, this track could slide onto a Megadeth greatest hits compilation without raising an eyebrow. It belongs alongside the canon, the songs that defined generations of headbangers. I still listen to "Peace Sells" with the same excitement I felt the first time I heard it, decades ago now. I have no doubt I'll be saying the same thing about "We'll Be Back" years from now. That's not hyperbole, it's just what happens when a band refuses to fade quietly into the sunset.

## The Verdict: A Band Turning 40 That Still Makes You Smile

The honest bottom line on Megadeth's 2022 album is this: the album isn't great, but it's clearly not a cash grab either. It carries echoes of both mediocre and good post-2000s Megadeth, with occasional flashes of 80s brilliance that remind you why this band matters. Innovation is limited, but the spirit is strong.

Kiko Loureiro deserves the loudest applause. The guitarist, who joined for 2016's *Dystopia*, elevates even the weakest tracks here with his solos and subtle touches. A mediocre song becomes worth listening to simply because of what he does around the edges. He keeps the band feeling fresh without ever overshadowing the classic Megadeth DNA.

Dirk Verbeuren, normally an incredible drummer, holds back noticeably on this record. Whether constrained by Dave Mustaine or choosing not to shake up the band's sound too much, he stays within a narrow lane and executes his duties cleanly. You get the sense he could do far more, but the restraint serves the songs.

Steve DiGiorgio's bass work is excellent throughout. Brought in after David Ellefson's dismissal, DiGiorgio recorded all the bass parts for the album, and his playing gives tracks like "Night Stalkers" a muscular foundation. The reviewer admits wishing DiGiorgio had joined full-time, but James LoMenzo ultimately took over that role instead.

Where does this land in the catalog? The reviewer, who has ranked all Megadeth albums from best to worst, places this one just above or below *Dystopia* in personal preference. It's not a heartbreaker like *Super Collider*, but it doesn't reach the heights of the classics either. It sits comfortably in the middle, an album you buy with a smile rather than a sigh.

The final sentiment matters most. The album isn't "super," but you can feel the labor poured into it, the genuine effort behind every riff. A band about to celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2023 still making fans smile is something special. Megadeth has long since entered the territory of a band living in our memories, yet they keep offering new ones with tracks like "We'll Be Back," "Dogs of Chernobyl," and "Célebutante." Long live Megadeth. Long live Megadave.


## Frequently asked questions

**What is the meaning behind Megadeth's song "Dogs of Chernobyl"?**

Despite its ominous title, "Dogs of Chernobyl" is not about the 1986 nuclear disaster at all. Dave Mustaine wrote it as a metaphor for a love story that ends in abandonment, comparing a jilted lover to the stray dogs left behind in the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Mustaine had written the song long before Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and the timing was pure coincidence.

**Who played bass on the album?**

Steve DiGiorgio recorded all the bass parts for the album after longtime bassist David Ellefson was dismissed from Megadeth in May 2021. DiGiorgio, a seasoned metal bassist known for his work with Death and Testament, was brought in to wipe and re-record Ellefson's tracks. James LoMenzo later joined as the band's touring and permanent bassist.

**How did Ice-T and Dave Mustaine first meet?**

In 1991, when Dave Mustaine was asked to name his top five albums of the year, he listed Ice-T's "Original Gangster" five times. Ice-T heard about this and was so moved that he reached out to Mustaine, and the two have been friends ever since. Their friendship eventually led to Ice-T contributing vocals to "Night Stalkers" on this album.

**Why did David Ellefson leave Megadeth?**

David Ellefson was dismissed from Megadeth in May 2021 following a scandal involving leaked explicit videos. His bass tracks for the album were subsequently wiped and re-recorded by Steve DiGiorgio, who handled all bass duties for the record. The dismissal marked the end of Ellefson's long tenure with the band he had co-founded.

**What is the concept behind "Night Stalkers"?**

"Night Stalkers" is about a special operations helicopter unit that flies dangerous night missions, performing rescue and destruction operations under cover of darkness. Ice-T's feature on the track was partly due to his military background as a former U.S. Army paratrooper, a detail that has been part of the song's lore.

**How does this album compare to earlier Megadeth records?**

Reviewers and fans have placed The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead! just above or below 2016's Dystopia in the band's discography. The album is praised for its spirit and effort, but critics note it leans heavily on nostalgia and doesn't offer major innovation. It's a solid addition to the catalog that rewards longtime fans without breaking new ground.

**What inspired "We'll Be Back"?**

Dave Mustaine wrote "We'll Be Back" as a direct response to those who doubted Megadeth's relevance in the modern metal scene. The song became the album's first single, released ahead of the full record in 2022. Its aggressive riffs and defiant lyrics serve as a statement that the band still has plenty of fight left in it.

Canonical: https://curio.madeda.com/the-sick-the-dying-and-the-dead-megadeth-2022-album-review/