New MEGADETH Record Will ‘Definitely’ Be A Thrash Album, Says DIRK VERBEUREN

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MEGADETH drummer Dirk Verbeuren spoke to "Todd Nief's Show" about the progress of the recording sessions for the band's follow-up to 2016's "Dystopia" album. He said (hear audio below): "We had to push things back a little bit, but at the end of May, both David Ellefson [bass] and myself went to Nashville to go in the studio there with Dave [Mustaine], and we recorded drum and bass tracks for the record, which we'd been working on about a year and a half or so prior — we started, with Dave, working on song ideas and riffs. So the foundation for the album is done. Dave Mustaine is currently recording all the guitars — all the rhythm guitars. Kiko [Loureiro, lead guitar], at some point — he's in Europe at the moment — is gonna come over and work with him on all the stuff. So it's in progress. "We recorded, actually, a lot of songs, and I'm pretty sure not all of them are gonna be on the album," Dirk continued. "But the overall direction of the record is definitely — it's gonna be a thrash album, it's gonna be a metal album. It's heavy — there's a lot of heavy stuff. So I'm very excited about it. "Old MEGADETH is kind of what I grew up with — and that's not to discredit anything they did in their career, but that's the stuff that touches me the most — so I wanted to bring that energy," Dirk added. "And I was able to, because Dave being the frontman he is, let me try stuff, let me do stuff — he was actually encouraging me to go crazy in some parts and stuff. And I think that was a very exhilarating time to be able to do that. It was pretty surreal, actually, to be in the studio with those guys." MEGADETH's new album is tentatively due in early 2021. Mustaine recently told SiriusXM's Jose Mangin that the upcoming MEGADETH album will be "up there with 'Countdown [To Extinction]', 'Rust In Peace' and probably 'Peace Sells' and 'Dystopia'." The effort will be MEGADETH's first to feature Verbeuren (ex-SOILWORK), who joined the band four years ago. As previously reported, MEGADETH's North American tour with LAMB OF GOD, TRIVIUM and IN FLAMES has been rescheduled for 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.