Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine has some good news for fans regarding new music. During an interview with Rolling Stone earlier this week, he told the magazine that the band plans to release some new songs before they head out on their European tour in January.
The band had reportedly been working on new music when Mustaine was diagnosed with throat cancer in June, which caused a temporary halt on the writing and recording process while he was undergoing treatment. According to Mustaine, the band had “nine really crushing songs” near completion before the pause.
“All we need to do is get in the studio and capture them,” said Mustaine about the completeness of the songs. “We’ve got scratch drum tracks. We just have to get Dirk [Verbeuren, drums] to play through the songs once or twice and then it’s up to me and David [Ellefson, bass] and Kiko [Loureiro, lead guitar] to finish.”
How many songs are being released is “still up in the air.” Mustaine hedged his bets, saying “it might be two, it might be four.”
While these songs don’t have official titles yet, working titles include “The Dogs Of Chernobyl,” which Mustaine says is akin to the material on Dystopia, “Faster Than Anything Else” and “Rattlehead, Part Two,” which he says “speak for themselves.”
Mustaine also told Rolling Stone that he encouraged Ellefson to write and sing a ballad that would “spotlight his playing.” “I said to him, ‘What was the biggest song that Kiss ever had?’ He goes, ‘Beth.’ I said, ‘Yeah, we should write a song like “Beth,” where it’s a ballad and it’s just you singing it. I think you should write a song about what it’s like being in Megadeth with me, because I read all your lyrics, and I know that your lyrics are aimed at me. You’re upset. So why don’t you write about it?’” That track is in the “fine-tuning” stages. Says Mustaine, “I’m going to try to work on it now for this record, and if it doesn’t get on this record, I’m going to try to work on it on the next record. Because it was actually really cool to see Ellefson writing something and hear him singing.” This will be the first time Ellefson has both written and sung on a Megadeth track.
The new album will also mark the first time Verbeuren has appeared on a Megadeth album. The drummer joined the fold following the release of their last album, Dystopia, in 2016.
Megadeth will embark on a month-long European tour starting January 20 in Helsinki. Five Finger Death Punch will act as main support for the tour. Says Mustaine, “I’m so excited. I can’t wait to fire up my guitars.”
