“Dave Mustaine really wants to do another record”: Megadeth are making their next album, says bassist

James LoMenzo and Dave Mustaine of Megadeth in 2022

(Image credit: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for SiriusXM)

Megadeth bassist James LoMenzo says the thrash metal favourites are working on their next studio album.

LoMenzo, who replaced co-founding member David Ellefson in 2022, made the revelation while talking to Portugal’s Metal Global.

“We’re actively working on music right now,” the bassist said (per Blabbermouth).

“We’re talking with Dave [Mustaine, Megadeth’s singer/guitarist] every day. Dave really wants to do another record and just get something fresh out there.”

LoMenzo continued by saying that he really hoped to play on the band’s previous album, 2022’s The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!, but that the parts had already been recorded by session player and Testament bassist Steve Di Giorgio.

Di Giorgio re-recorded bass parts originally performed by Ellefson, after Ellefson was dismissed from Megadeth amidst a sex scandal.

“The last one I thought was great,” said LoMenzo.

“When I had just joined the band, they just finished recording it. I begged, I pleaded, I said,’'I know, I know, I know, but could I please play bass on this?’ ’Cause there’s a few things I had heard were so great.

“And they were, like, ‘We’ve been doing this for two years. We just have to get on the road. It’s done.’ I was, like, ‘All right.’

“But Steve Di Giorgio did an amazing job. I really love the way he played on this. And I enjoy playing his style.”

Megadeth leader Mustaine, who played guitar in Metallica from 1982 to ’83, recently expressed his loyalty to the thrash metal genre in an interview and said that he never wants to stop writing in that style.

“If we [Megadeth] started doing music that wasn’t heavy and it wasn’t thrash, I would probably not want to do it anymore,” he said.

“Thrash metal music is one of those things that makes you feel alive inside.

“I can’t remember anything that I’ve ever experienced that makes me feel as good as thrash metal – not a drug, not a drink, not a person, not a thing.”

Megadeth are currently playing the final shows of a summer European tour and will trek across the US in August and September. See the full list of dates and get tickets via their website.

Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Metal Hammer and Prog, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, NME and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.