Megadeth Push Back New Album Release Yet Again

Megadeth have been working on the successor to 2016's Dystopia for years, and after multiple projected release timelines, the band has again pushed things back, moving from a targeted spring release over to summer.

For fans, the wait for a new record has dragged on, but the thrash legends have been keen on providing steady updates. They've shared clips in the studio dating back to before the pandemic all the way through recent months where Dave Mustaine has been gradually letting some information leak out via the paid video message service Cameo. It's through that platform that he announced the album title, The Sick, The Dying and The Dead, and most recently, he even shared an audio teaser of one new song, "Life in Hell."

In late November, Mustaine suggested Megadeth were targeting a spring 2022 release, which would have aligned nicely with a tour kickoff in April for the second leg of the 'Metal Tour of the Year' alongside co-headliners Lamb of God and special guests Trivium and In Flames.

In an interview with Forbes, which was centered around the upcoming run, both Mustaine and Lamb of God frontman Randy Blythe spoke about what's to come and looked back at least year's tour together.

When asked if this next tour leg would be in support of a new record, Mustaine replied, "No. This is wrapping up the remainder of last year, but I know that our actual official record release date had gotten moved back again with all of the distribution stuff, and all of these issues with getting product from one place to the next with record plants making vinyl."

Delays in vinyl production have backed up countless releases over the last year and more, and Megadeth are not impervious to the dreaded delay, though the frontman suggested other issues were at hand as well.

"We're not reliant on vinyl so much," Mustaine continued, "but just the whole process has been delayed, so it's just gotten moved back again. We're going to be doing, I believe at the time I'm not sure, but I believe at the time when the record comes out this summer we'll be on a tour that we're going to be announcing, but I can't really get into that right now because I don't know for sure the dates."

Catch Megadeth on the 'Metal Tour of the Year' at these dates.