MEGADETHhave parted ways with their most acclaimed bassist David Ellefson. Obviously there is a lot to unpack here from the moral standpoint of what happened (even if it wasn’t grooming, which depends on whose word you take at face value…edging the age of consent and lying to your wife is fucked up) to other people saying Mustaine is also likely glad to get someone else who he can pay less as well. Any way you slice it amounts to a lousy shit pile of a stain on the legacy of the remaining classic member’s bond. Still, I hope if Ellefson truly does try to aspire to Christian values that David will work towards making amends and focusing on his family.
Hey there Megadeth and general thrash fanatics! Cool news today. I got to in a small way facilitate an introduction between Robert Bolger (longtime Nick Menza manager) and rocker/web designer Mark Aceves of the band ZED through my friend Lara Noel McGlynn who knew Mark. Long story short, here’s a website with a sneak preview of an upcoming Nick Menza documentary about the late, great thrash icon’s life! Playing even a tiny, inconsequential part in this means a lot to me as Countdown… was very much one of the first records that got me into ‘heavier’ metal.
Screaming Butterfly Entertainment was founded by owner Holly Mollohan, who guides fans through the teaser clip.
Click HERE for more info, a terrific photo gallery, performance videos and to see a documentary teaser trailer \m/.
ELLEFSON, the solo band of Grammy-Winning MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson, has announced the release date for their cover of the POST MALONE track “OVER NOW”, which will release exclusively on BANDCAMP on 5/9, and on all other digital outlets on 5/15. The track will appear on their as yet-untitled debut album, tentatively due in October.
Produced by Ellefson, Vocalist Thom Hazaert, and guitarist Andy Martongelli, engineered and mixed by Allessio Garavello, with vocals engineered by Richard Easterling and Matt LaPlant (Nonpoint, Skindred), and featuring cover art by Melody Myers (Altitudes and Attitudes, Escape The Fate) the track is a heavy reimagining of the R&B flavored Posty favorite (co-written with Tommy Lee), also featuring drummer Paolo Caridi, and guest background vocals by legendary former Guns N’ Roses guitarist, Asia vocalist, and frequent Ellefson/Hazaert collaborator Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal.
Morgan here with some Quarantine updates from Metal Riot land to you. I am very upset to report that a close family member has the virus. It’s my mom. So far she is low fever and is doing ok. She is in a dementia ward and it is really hard. I am trying not to lose my mind with worry. It is hard to feel powerless. As a result, posts may be sporadic while I process this but really writing about music is also a good emotional distraction and way to bring folks together. Thank you to all who stand by our site and continue to rock with us.
Before I talk about some cool music news, I have been catching up on a few movies I never got to see when they came out and have to say that any of y’all who hated on Pacific Rim: Uprising are fucking idiots. That movie ruled and Steven S. DeKnight is the man. It didn’t have as many stars as the original but the emotional motivation was richer and I liked it even better. Especially of note the rad, explosive ending on Mount Fuji. So there.
Hard rocker Gilby Clarke of GnR fame is back with a rambling new single perfect for all of you who might be missing born to lose sleazy watering holes and who have the gritty rock n roll blues in your hearts.
Gilby recently released his latest single ‘Rock n’ Roll Is Getting Louder’ via Golden Robot Record and now Gilby has now released the video for ‘Rock n’ Roll Is Getting Louder’. The video was shot in Palmdale CA and Downtown Los Angeles and band performance footage in Hollywood club Oh My Ribs! It was directed by Christopher C. Pearson.
Gilby’s live band members Bass Player, EJ Curse (Silent Rage, White Lion) and Drummer, Jimmy D’Anda (Bullet Boys, George Lynch) both appear in the clip along with some great cameo’s by Slim Jim Phantom (Stray Cats), Taime Downe (Faster Pussycat), Jimmy Herald (Hillbilly Herald) and Teddy ‘Zig Zag’ Andreadis (formally of Guns N’ Roses, Carole King, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Alice Cooper). Fun tune.
Greyhawk deliver power metal glory to fly us triumphantly above these terrible days. Eddis from the Keep on the Borderlands novel would totally stan when she rides out to kill hobgoblins. The title track to upcoming release Keepers of the Flame (June 16th, 2020) is reminiscent of mid tempo Stratovarius meets Ronnie James Dio, to my ears. Love the band’s fearless big vocals and harmonies. A melodic war cry from the skies!
Awesome news for Nick Menza fans! The first of three episodes of the revamped 2020 “Menza Mega Video Vault” featuring the late MEGADETH drummer behind the camera filming some very rare unreleased intimate and funny backstage moments with the guys in MEGADETH, PANTERA, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS and their road crews, hosted by entertaining EXODUS Frontman Steve “Zetro” Souza can now be streamed below.
The three part series “Behind The Scenes With Nick Menza” is footage from Menza’s personal and private collection VHS tapes that features previously unreleased live concert footage of PANTERA and STONE TEMPLE PILOTS the drummer captured during 1992 and 1993 when PANTERA and STONE TEMPLE PILOTS opened for MEGADETH on the Countdown To Extinction tour.
The series is being produced by Menza’s long time manger Robert Bolger, Wayne Marsala and Brian Huntington of Grey Haven Media.
The highlight of his career, Nick said, was playing Rock In Rio before more than 100,000 people. The lowest point was being fired by Mustaine while he was still in a hospital bed after surgery to remove what doctors feared was a cancerous growth. RIP once again to a real one.
Megadeth‘s Dave Mustaine has been diagnosed with throat cancer and has left a message to fans, embedded below. I don’t usually post about Megadeth anymore since awhile ago as a fan I felt very let down by some of Mustaine’s conspiracy theory-esque words about a theater shooting, but Mustaine is an important figure, a human being and people can embody many things in a lifetime. It is the day after Father’s Day and my own dad battled cancer for over a decade and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, let alone someone who wrote an album that changed my life forever like Countdown To Extinction. It would certainly be petty and not being a bigger person to not wish Dave the best after such a scary diagnosis.
Wishing Dave a speedy recovery and hope he is able to get ahead of this. As he noted in his post to supporters, he has gotten through bad things before, so here is hoping this is another obstacle MegaDave can soon put behind him.
Being a life long MEGADETH fan, I admit that I was devastated in 2002 when it was announced that the band was disbanding due to Mustaine’s nerve issues in his arm. Shortly after, issues between the Daves [Mustaine and Ellefson] surfaced, giving me that feeling that the final nail was in the coffin of MEGADETH, and I’d never get to see my favorite band ever again. Sure, their last two albums had been Risk and The World Needs A Hero, both of which I had liked, but weren’t nearly as strong as their prior releases. It seemed like this was truly the end.
You can only imagine the sheer ecstasy I had when I learned that Mustaine had relearned to play, and was coming back with a new MEGADETH album (2004’s excellent The System Has Failed) with a returning Chris Poland [guitarist from Killing Is My Business…And Business Is Good! and the groundbreaking Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying?). Little did I know that album would mark the start of an amazing “Decade Of Deth”. (Yes, I actually air-quoted that as I typed it. What, you wanna fight about it?) The lineup changed a million times over, but the tunes were all killer during that decade.
2004 gave us The System Has Failed, paired up with the incredibly cool Gigantour in the summer of 2005. 2007 gave us United Abominations, with the amazingly good “Washington Is Next” single. Endgame came in 2009, and 2011 gave us a returning David Ellefson and the album Thirteen. (For the record, the song “13” is one of my top favorite recent MEGADETH tracks). The band was on fire, so it can only be expected that 2013’s Supercollider would be fucking incredible. Am I right?
Ok, so Supercollider was anything but “super”. Definitely the most lackluster of any MEGADETH record to date, but seeing as their first album hit in 1985, their track record so far has been pretty good. I mean, the album wasn’t so horrible that half the band felt they needed to quit shortly after its release, was it? (2 side notes here: First off, if you haven’t already heard Supercollider, it is worth a shot. “Kingmaker”, “Dance In The Rain” featuring DISTURBED’s David Draiman, and THIN LIZZY cover “Cold Sweat” are worth listening to. Secondly, Chris Broderick and Shawn Drover both formed ACT OF DEFIANCE after leaving MEGADETH, and their album kicks serious ass. I suggest buying that one now. Well, not “now”. Finish reading my babbling here, and then go purchase it.)
Megadeth‘s new track is probably the best thing from the band since the System Has Failed stuff, the last time I was really into more than one or two songs off a record (though Endgame was pretty decent). This new tune “The Threat Is Real” is awesome, though. Kudos to Mustaine for listening to the fans desire for some of the thrashier, more virtuoso side of Megadeth we have been missing. Listen HERE.
That said, I have never been able to listen to the band the same way since the Mustaine comments about Obama being behind the movie theater Dark Knight Rises Shootings. Look, we know he calls shots on the drone kill list but believing in the false flag movie theater shooting stuff as a plot to take away gun rights was really too much. We don’t need to fabricate shootings because they happen way too often. And I’m not even anti-gun. I think it is a tool like anything else but way too many people are not mature or sane enough to handle the responsibility. So yeah, Mustaine saying that made me go running for my Testament CDs instead. I’m not sure I’m ever gonna be won back fully from that, despite this track having some great performances on it. That said, it’s a real shredder and I loved it.
“One of the columns I was excited to have you involved in is our Metal Riot ‘Deep Cuts’ series. I’d like you to do MEGADETH!”
That was the line that stood out to me when I got my welcome to the Metal Riot world. I was on my lunch break from my day job inside a Stewart’s station when I got this message and in my joy, let out a very loud “OH FUCK YEAH!!”, much to the displeasure of a woman and young child sitting at the table next to me. I can only assume her displeasure was because I get to listen to a lot of MEGADETH and call it ‘work’, and she can’t. Really, there is no other logical explaination I can come up with. MEGADETH has been one of my top favorites for as long as I can remember, so I really was excited to be asked to write about them. I got into the band while collecting movie soundtracks as a kid. “Go To Hell” from the Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey soundtrack was my introduction to the band, but “Angry Again” from Last Action Hero is what really snagged my attention.
So now, I’ve got the impossible task of narrowing down the band’s 30 year career of killer tunes down to only 3 cuts. We all know the mega-classics. “Trust”, “Holy Wars…The Punishment Due”, “Symphony Of Destruction”, “Peace Sells”, etc. have all been staples in the band’s setlist for years. I wanted to pick out some tunes that don’t seem to get as much love. Obviously, I had to leave out a ton, so gems like “44 Minutes”, “The Disintegrators” and “Die Dead Enough” will have to wait until we do another write up.
For what 3 songs made the “Cuts” snarl and sneer HERE.
Posted by longhairedpoet on Thursday, April 18, 2013 at 11:40 PM (PST)
Dave Mustaine, guitarist and lead singer for thrash metal mainstays Megadeth, has confirmed Device (David Draiman – Disturbed) for his tour, Gigantour. Mustaine made this confirmation on Saturday Night Scream, a radio show out of Syracuse, NY. So far Device is the only other band announced for the tour and no dates have been released.
Check out the interview here and the official announcement on the Gigantour Facebook page here.
Gigantour first took place in 2005 and most recently took place last winter.
Megadeth are slated to release the follow up to 2011’s Thirteen on June 4. That album will be entitled Super Collider.
Device’s self-titled debut was released on April 9.
Check out a MetalRiot exclusive David Draiman interview here.
Posted by SeanB on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 at 9:06 AM (PST)
This isn’t really a huge surprise with all the recent layoffs and what not over at Roadrunner Records, but thrash legends Megadeth have decided to jump ship and announced their departure. Frontman Dave Mustaine has stated via Twitter:
“Today marks the end of an era with Roadrunner @rrusa. Hopefully we can finish strong with a #Grammy.”
You really could have predicted this back in 2009 when Mustaine had some pretty scathing things to say about Roadrunner and the way they handled his records. To read what he had to say click here.
Megadeth have been seriously damaged by a Skrull attack planned by Obama. Sorry, let’s end the madness. I hear it was actually just Dave Mustaine bugging out. Skrulls don’t exist. But, there is hope. Metal Riot did an awesome interview with Marty Friedman this week and he is not crazy and reissued 3 great albums on Prosthetic.
Meanwhile… you can go buy the awesome new Ministry album for some actually important political views in the metal world, or you can be entertained reading this. I would like to add that being part of Occupy doesn’t mean you automatically hate rich people, just inequality. Impoverished Wall Street hating Megadouche fans…go worship someone who actively despises you.
Oderus from Gwar recently called Dave Mustaine a “G.C.F.” (not gonna tell you what that stands for). If anyone wants to start a liberal era Megadeth cover band and just play the anti-G.Bush pt.1 song ‘Foreclosure Of A Dream’ over and over, let’s make it happen.
What else? Baroness are ok but have some broken bones and busted other stuff after a bad crash (not as bad as that Candiria one a bit back). Let’s wish them a speedy recovery. We love them.
Paul Ryan loves Rage Against The Machine. Um…on behalf of all sane birds and humans…that is funny. Tell Ayn Rand that government and big business are the same thing now, so her book is now sci-fi. You say jump, we say how high.
Last but not least, Trash Talk started the best hashtag of the week:
Posted by tyrusrunyan on Friday, August 17, 2012 at 7:08 AM (PST)
Dave Mustaine is at it again, during an August 7th show in Singapore the Megadeth frontman accused President Obama of staging a string of recent shootings in the US, including the Aurora, CO and Oak Creek, WI, for political purposes. This is by no means the first inflammatory statement Mustaine has made against Obama but its probably the most offensive. Click here for the video, quote and a rebuttal from the Scumdog of the Universe himself Oderus Urungus of GWAR.
Posted by KageDrummer on Wednesday, March 21, 2012 at 5:07 PM (PST)
Dave Ellefson, bassist for the California thrashers, Megadeth, was interviewed recently in Canada. In the interview he discusses Canada, his influences, Starbucks, rejoining the band, the band’s early years, and more.
Posted by metalrocker on Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 6:42 PM (PST)
Dave Mustaine, of California thrash group Megadeth, was recently interviewed backstage when they stopped in for the New York date of Gigantour. In the interview he discusses feelings when starting tour, set list construction, and much more.
Posted by KageDrummer on Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 3:32 PM (PST)
Dave Mustaine, vocalist and guitarist for California thrashers, Megadeth, was interviewed recently. In the interview he discusses the band’s new album, the government, as well as what it was like playing with his former band, Metallica, at one of their anniversary concerts.
The gnarliest punk album of the year just dropped. Love Is A Lie, Filth Is Eternal from Filth Is Eternal (formerly F'd and B'd) reminds us that there was a time when Seattle bands were considered dangerous, when Mudhoney might jump on your face and half the roster of Sub Pop didn't look like even Starbucks wasn't gentrified enough for their tepid, pale faced indie rock bullshit. Filth Is Eternal plays an explosive blend of go for the throat, not a moment wasted punk n' roll married to Sonic Youth flirting dissonance and with tones ugly enough to make Fudge Tunnel blush and The Bronx seem like Captain & Tennille. Fronted by an actual snarling wild animal over some of the best riffs and beats you have ever heard.
This record reminds me of a show I played in 1997 with my old band Fuse where I got wasted on unclean tapline Rolling Rocks and bottom shelf whiskey after getting a tattoo and ended up rolling on a country bar floor half nude and bleeding and smearing black grime and tattoo inky residue and blood everywhere, waking up the next day feeling kind of aroused and ready to fight literally anything but also half dead. Sirhan Sirhan is gonna get out of jail and be all stoked to enter polite society and this shit will play and it will retrigger a hypnotic trance and make dude go all Winter Soldier on some dudes.
If your band doesn't bang as hard as the ending of "The Dog", just quit now.
Dave Ellefson, bassist for the California thrashers, 
