Songfacts®:

• "We'll Be Back" is the lead single from The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!, Megadeth's first studio album since 2016's Dystopia. The six-year gap was the longest between two studio albums in the band's career.
  
  There were several reasons for the delay; in 2019, Megadeth band leader Dave Mustaine was diagnosed with throat cancer, then the pandemic kicked in. Finally, in 2021, Mustaine fired David Ellefson from the band after the longtime bassist got caught in an internet sex scandal.
  
  Here, Mustaine threatens the band's return. During the fiery track, he uses hostile and violent metaphors to warn doubters they're ready to kick butt and rock out again.
• Asked by Rolling Stone about still writing ferocious ragers four decades on from Megadeth's formation, Mustaine replied, "Well, I still have a couple of bands in my crosshairs that I'm going after."
• Mustaine worked on The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead! tracks, along with guitarist Kiko Loureiro and drummer Dirk Verbeuren. After Mustaine dismissed Ellefson from Megadeth, he removed all his bass contributions and recruited Testament bassist Steve Di Giorgio to re-record his parts.
• Mustaine wrote the song with Loureiro, who worked on his parts from his home in Finland.
• Mustaine co-produced "We'll Be Back" with the track's engineer, Chris Rakestraw. The pair performed the same duties on Dystopia.
• The Leo Liberti-directed video chronicles the origins of Megadeth's mascot, Vic Rattlehead. Starring Rafael Pensado as Human Vic, the epic, action-packed short film is described as "a soldier's tale of bravery, personal sacrifice, and the will to survive."
  
  "It starts off with this guy who's got to go to work in his job at the military plant," Mustaine explained to Rolling Stone. "Little does he know that these mercenaries have come to kill him and his family. He finds out, and he goes after these people. He's with his army guys, and he ends up getting into hand combat with this main guy who's got this dirty bomb, and he risks his life and swims out into the ocean with it and dies."
  
  The clip is the first installment of a trilogy released in conjunction with The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead.
• Rafael Pensado also produced the clip. He previously made the group's videos for "Dystopia" and "Conquer or Die."
• Vic Rattlehead first appeared on the cover of Megadeth's debut album, Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good! After that, he regularly appeared on album artwork and live shows. Mustaine detailed Vic's mythic creation in the song "Skull Beneath The Skin."
• Megadeth performed "We'll Be Back" live for the first time during their August 24, 2022 show at FivePoint Amphitheatre in Irvine, California. They played eight other songs during the performance from an assortment of albums.
• The song earned a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance. It was Megadeth's 13th Grammy nomination: they came up empty on their first 11 tries before winning in the Best Metal Performance category for their 2016 album Dystopia. In a Songfacts interview with Dave Mustaine soon after getting the nomination, he talked about his magic number.
  
  "I started playing guitar at 13, I was born on the 13th, there are 13 steps on the front of my property, our address added up to 13," he said. "This being the 13th nomination, I'm hoping we continue our good run."