It’s been a good week for classic metal. Recently, Megadeth revealed the final details of their forthcoming album, “The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!” The record will come out on Sept. 2 via UMe and feature 12 new tracks and two cover songs. Earlier this month, Megadeth also released the first song from the album, “We’ll Be Back,” which was accompanied by the video, “We’ll Be Back: Chapter 1.” The video is an action-packed short film that details the beginnings of Megadeth’s mascot, Vic Rattlehead. “For the first time in a long time, everything that we needed on this record is right in its place,” Dave Mustaine said in a release. “I can’t wait for the public to get hold of this!”
On Friday, the official music video for the next single, “Night Stalkers,” was released. The video features iconic rapper Ice-T as is the continuation of the story from “We’ll Be Back.” “It’s a brutal song,” Mustaine said. “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.”
Last month, Ozzy Osbourne also revealed the details for his forthcoming album, “Patient Number 9,” which comes out Sept. 9. The album’s title track and video, which includes Jeff Beck, was also released. On Friday, “The Prince of Darkness” released a second song from the album, “Degradation Rules,” which features a guest spot from legendary Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi. “It was really great working with Tony,” Osbourne told SiriusXM. “He’s the riff master. No one can touch him in that respect. I only wish we had these songs for Black ’Sabbath’s ’13’ album.”
During an appearance on Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast earlier this year, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith revealed in-depth details on the album. Smith said the record features appearances by Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo, Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan as well as a host of notable guitarists including Iommi, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready, Queens of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme and Black Label Society and longtime Ozzy axeman, Zakk Wylde.
