Megadeth hoping to release new album next spring

Megadeth leader Dave Mustaine says the band are hoping to have their new studio album out in the spring of next year.

They’ve been working on the follow-up to 2016’s Dystopia, with Mustaine reporting back in August that he put the chances of it arriving in 2019 at “probably 95%.”

Now it looks like it might be coming sooner rather than later next year.

Speaking with Eddie Trunk (opens in new tab)’s SiriusXM broadcast Live From The Rainbow Bar And Grill, Mustaine said (via Blabbermouth (opens in new tab)): “We're just assembling all the pieces right now.

“Guitarist Kiko Loureiro and drummer Dirk Verbeuren have both been out to the studio to start recording and we're now in the process of finalising all the arrangements. 

“We're hoping for a spring release next year.”

At the start of November, Megadeth released a short clip of Verbeuren in the studio (opens in new tab) – and Mustaine reports that people “freaked out over it.”

He adds: “And that's how I feel. I watch him play and I just laugh because when I play live, I'm not looking at him, I’m looking at the audience, so I don't really see. 

“Kiko said to me, 'You're going to find out he's the best drummer Megadeth ever had.' And I went, 'Okay. I agree.’”

Megadeth will set sail on the first-ever Megacruise between October 13-18, 2019 (opens in new tab), where they’ll be joined by Armored Saint, Anthrax, Devildriver, Corrosion Of Conformity, Testament, John 5, Doro, Danko Jones, Beasto Blanco, Metalachi and Metal Church.

The band will also head out on the road with Ozzy Osbourne next year (opens in new tab) on the latest leg of Ozzy’s No More Tours 2 run of North American shows.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers and magazines as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. After initially joining our news desk in the summer of 2014, he moved to the e-commerce team full-time in 2020. He maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott grew up listening to rock and prog, cutting his teeth on bands such as Marillion and Magnum before his focus shifted to alternative and post-punk in the late 80s. His favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Drab Majesty, but he also still has a deep love of Rush.