This September, it will have been two years since iconic thrash metal outfit Megadeth released their 16th studio album The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead! Not ones to rest on their laurels, the band is apparently hard at work on its follow up after all the extensive touring they’ve done in recent months.
News of the band’s activities came out in a recent interview between bassist James LoMenzo and Jorge Botas from Portugal’s Metal Global. In their chat, LoMenzo said this new album should be a completely new experience for fans, given all the changes that have happened to the band in recent years.
“We’re actively working on music right now. In a way — well, it is; it’s a new band at this point. It’s a new version of Megadeth, as if nobody expected that coming. We’re talking with Dave every day. Dave really wants to do another record and just get something fresh out there.”
Speaking on the previous album, LoMenzo said he desperately wanted to contribute to the album. However, by the time he’d joined the band, he said things were already pretty much done, so this is his chance to put his mark on Megadeth’s new output.
“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 are a few things I had heard that were so great. And they were, like, ‘We’ve been doing this for two years. We just have to get on th road. It’s done.’ I was, like, ‘All right.’ But Steve DiGiorgio – who played bass on The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead‘ – did an amazing job. I really love the way he played on this. And I enjoy playing his style.”
As far as playing with a certain style goes, LoMenzo commented on the band’s latest addition, Teemu Mäntysaari,
“He’s good. He’s young. He’s younger than the rest of us, so he keeps us on our toes. But he’s really helpful because he’s got a… We’ve already walked this journey for a while, Dave and I, so to have that kind of fresh blood, that’s really… He’s very focused. And it’s not contagious, ’cause I don’t do that, but it’s good to have somebody there to kind of corral us old guys into a corner and go, ‘Okay, I’ve worked on this. Are we ready to go?’ It’s, like, ‘Oh, we should work on this now. Okay. Let’s go.’”
While we may be a while away from new Megadeth songs, it’s good to know that the guys are working on some new shit.