MEGADETH released "The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!" on September 2nd, 2022, through Tradecraft and Universal — the sixteenth album and one of the most difficult to finish in the band's history. Recording ran from May 2019 into 2021, the longest stretch MEGADETH had ever spent on a record, delayed first by Dave Mustaine's throat cancer diagnosis and then by the pandemic. Longtime bassist David Ellefson was dismissed before completion; Steve Di Giorgio re-recorded the bass parts, and James LoMenzo rejoined afterwards. It was Dirk Verbeuren's first album and Kiko Loureiro's last. The record debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 with 48,000 units, topped the Finnish chart, and "We'll Be Back" earned a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance. Metacritic settled at 78. Few bands survive that much disruption and still land a top-three album.