Released: September 2, 2o22
Six years separated Dystopia from The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead! Those years were messy: Dave Mustaine underwent treatment for throat cancer, the pandemic slowed the album down, and Steve DiGiorgio was brought in to re-record its bass parts. By the time it came out in September 2022, Megadeth faced a fair question: could the band still make its familiar machinery sound alert after nearly four decades?
The title track moves through wind, distant cries of “bring out your dead,” a mid-paced guitar figure, a blunt chug, and layered harmonies. A clean passage briefly clears the air before the band snaps back into thrash. Mustaine’s lyric follows plague ships, fleas, rats, and mass death, and the music changes with the story. The arrangement makes the outbreak sound as though it is spreading in real time.
“Night Stalkers” takes the opposite route. Mustaine called it the fastest song Megadeth had recorded to that point, clocking it at 190 beats per minute. Dirk Verbeuren matches the rapid guitar pattern with precise double-kick work while his snare accents keep the riff from becoming a blur. The band then drops into acoustic guitar, Kiko Loureiro’s flute, and a spoken military report from Ice-T. That short break makes the return to full speed hit even harder.
DiGiorgio keeps the bass mostly inside the rhythm guitars, adding a sharp edge to their low end when Mustaine and Loureiro begin stacking parts. Josh Wilbur’s mix leaves enough separation to hear the picking underneath the distortion. The kick and snare are polished almost flat, however, which reduces some of Verbeuren’s physical force. His playing is busier and more animated than the drum sound sometimes lets on.
“Dogs of Chernobyl” makes careful use of open space. Loureiro’s classical-style introduction leaves the song exposed, then the distorted guitars enter in stages as the image of abandoned animals becomes a metaphor for a relationship collapsing. The second half turns into a chain reaction: radiation sickness and rapid picking and pounding double bass. The long, patient opening makes that acceleration sound violent.
Mustaine works within a narrower vocal range and treats his rasp like a character voice. He sneers through “Célebutante” as if the words annoy him. On “Mission to Mars,” he plays the cranky comedian, starting with a deliberately corny astronaut refrain and ending in mission-control dialogue, interplanetary confusion, and nuclear escalation. The goofy space drama cuts through an album filled with plague, addiction, betrayal, and war. Megadeth have always needed some of that black humor.
Loureiro helped build several songs from the riff upward. He brought central ideas to “Night Stalkers,” “Célebutante” and “We’ll Be Back,” and his leads are built into the arrangements. “We’ll Be Back” rides one whipping central riff before opening its final section into an extended guitar fight. Mustaine scratches and lunges; Loureiro answers with smoother, more measured lines. Their differences keep the last two minutes moving after the chorus has finished its work.
So, can Megadeth still make that old machinery sound alert? Yes. The title track builds a plague scene, “Night Stalkers” drops a flute into 190-bpm thrash, “Dogs of Chernobyl” turns silence into panic, and “Mission to Mars” becomes a radio play. Those details show musicians making decisions inside the songs. The old patterns keep getting interrupted before they become automatic. Megadeth sound alert here because the band keeps interfering with its own formula.
Written by Rob Joncas for DeadNoteMedia.
Artist information and music courtesy of the band.
© 2026 DeadNoteMedia. All rights reserved.
DeadNoteMedia 