Megadeth announces final album, farewell tour: 'Forged in steel, ending in fire'
Band founder, singer and guitarist Dave Mustaine announced – via his skeletal alter ego Vic Rattlehead – the rockers' forthcoming album will be Megadeth's last.
'Forty years of metal, forged in steel, ending in fire,' Rattlehead says in an apocalyptic-themed video. 'You've heard the warning. Now, prepare yourselves and meet me on the frontlines.'
Megadeth will also embark on a global farewell tour in 2026 and Mustaine is prepping a new memoir.
Details and dates on all will be announced in the coming months.
'There's so many musicians that have come to the end of their career, whether accidental or intentional,' Mustaine says in an announcement about Megadeth's finale. 'Most of them don't get to go out on their own terms on top, and that's where I'm at in my life right now. I have traveled the world and have made millions upon millions of fans and the hardest part of all of this is saying goodbye to them.'
Mustaine, 63, has been the only consistent member of the band since forming it in 1983 in California. Throughout its tenure, Megadeth – along with Metallica (in which he previously served as lead guitarist), Slayer, Iron Maiden and Anthrax – brought metal to the masses. The band has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide and in 2017 scored a Grammy Award for best metal performance ('Dystopia').
Megadeth's most recent album, 'The Sick, the Dying … and the Dead!' arrived in 2022, three years after Mustaine was diagnosed with throat cancer. The combination of his illness and the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the delay. The album hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts for hard rock, rock and alternative albums.
Along with Mustaine, Megadeth currently includes drummer Dirk Verbeuren, guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari and bassist James LoMenzo.
Mustaine took a philosophical view of ending his musical career, saying in the announcement, 'Don't be mad, don't be sad, be happy for us all, come celebrate with me these next few years. We have done something together that's truly wonderful and will probably never happen again. We started a musical style, we started a revolution, we changed the guitar world and how it's played, and we changed the world.'
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Megadeth announces final album, farewell tour
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