Megadeth has posted a photo on Instagram featuring the date June 23rd, which is believed to be the scheduled release date of the first single from the band's forthcoming album, The Sick, The Dying And The Dead.

Conclusions are being drawn from a statement frontman Dave Mustaine made during the band's set at the Download festival last weekend (see below), when he said the first single would drop on July 23rd.
 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Megadeth (@megadeth)

In a late 2021 interview with American Songwriter magazine, Mustaine revealed the the title track, "The Sick, The Dying And The Dead", is about the plague, but not solely centered around the current pandemic. A broad, more historical scope of the diseases that have plagued humankind throughout time, The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead covers the current virus, swine flu, and other epidemics from centuries past."

Further on in the article, it's revealed that throughout its afflictions and other reflections, the album is assembled from riffs and music Mustaine has had archived for years, some as far back as his teens. "A lot of the riffs have been saved over time," says Mustaine. "A brand new song can be made up of something I wrote when I was 15 or 55. If It's a good riff, I'll save it."

Working on the tracks, along with guitarist Kiko Loureiro and drummer Dirk Verbeuren, formerly of Swedish metal band Soilwork, who joined the band full time in 2016, Mustaine say everyone was involved in piecing together the songs on the album recorded partially in the US with Loureiro working on his parts from his home in Finland.

Stay tuned for further details on the new album.