Megadeth have an entire new album written, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic the band has been unable to record. Megadeth is one of the “big four” of American thrash metal, responsible for its development and popularization. The band has sold over 38 million records worldwide, with six of their 15 studio albums reaching platinum status.

In an interview with Metal Voice, Megadeth bassist, David Ellefson shared about the new album, “I think it’s a great record, it’s very heavy with a lot of fast thrashing stuff. There is a vibe that feels very cohesive between the four members as we all worked on the album together. We spent a lot of time as a band. Last summer, before Dave [Mustaine]’s throat cancer treatments, we were all working on the album and that added a whole different angle to the flavor of the record, that’s how we used to make all our early albums, writing, pre-production and rehearsing together.”

Ellefson has been contributing to coronavirus relief efforts, with his new initiative that offers free one-on-one mentoring sessions with music students via video links. In fact, all proceeds from His new single “Simple Truth” will go toward COVID-19 relief. Regarding the direction of the new album, Ellefson remarked, “We have everything from that thrashy stuff from Killing Is My Business and Peace Sells, to the more refined moments of Youthanasia and Cryptic Writings. So I think the album’s going to have a little bit of everything, so that is good news for Megadeth fans.”

Over 37 years ago, on April 11, 1983, Megadeth’s lead vocalist Dave Mustaine was fired from Metallica, due to substance abuse and personal conflicts with James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. Mustaine then formed Megadeth, vowing to form a band that was faster and heavier than Metallica. On the bus trip back to Los Angeles, Mustaine found a pamphlet by California senator Alan Cranston that read, “The arsenal of megadeath can’t be rid no matter what the peace treaties come to.” The term “Megadeath” stuck with Mustaine and he wrote a song with the spelling slightly changed to Megadeth, which, according to Mustaine, represented the annihilation of power.

In mid-2005, Mustaine organized an annual thrash metal festival tour, Gigantour. Megadeth headlined the inaugural tour with acts such as Dream Theater, Nevermore, Anthrax, and Fear Factory. In 2019, bassists Frank Bello (Anthrax) and David Ellefson (Megadeth) joined forces in the making of band, Altitudes and Attitude, with an album titled, Get Out. Anthrax bassist, Bello shared, “I’ve learned that writing songs is very cathartic. A lot of these lyrics are about the inner struggles of my life, and about the rage that has built up from my life experiences, my brother’s murder; my father abandoning my family when we were young, leaving us with no funds to pay the bills.”

Photo Credit: Marv Watson