Megadeth will be retiring after one final album and a global farewell tour next year, frontman Dave Mustaine has confirmed.
In a social media post shared via his alter ego Vic Rattlehead, Mustaine confirmed the band were about to enter the final chapter of their four-decade plus career.
“There’s so many musicians that have come to the end of their career, whether accidental or intentional,” Mustaine said. “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.
“We can’t wait for you to hear this album and see us on tour. If there was ever a perfect time for us to put out a new album, it’s now. If there was ever a perfect time to tour the world, it’s now. This is also a perfect time for us to tell you that it’s our last studio album. We’ve made a lot of friends over the years and I hope to see all of you on our global farewell tour.
“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. The bands I played in have influenced the world. I love you all for it. Thank you for everything.”
Mustaine will also be releasing a memoir next year, details of which will be revealed in the coming months. Fans can sign up here for exclusive news on the group’s plans as and when they are confirmed.
The first single from Megadeth’s 17th and final album will be released in the autumn. Mustaine confirmed at the tail end of last year that he had been in the studio working on the follow-up to 2022’s ‘The Sick, The Dying and the Dead!’
Meanwhile, their farewell tour dates are yet to be confirmed.
Megadeth will be back in the UK and Europe supporting Disturbed on their tour celebrating 25 years of their landmark album ‘The Sickness’ this October – visit here to buy tickets.
In other news, the band’s bassist James LoMenzo recently explained why Megadeth was conspicuously absent from Black Sabbath’s recent ‘Back To The Beginning’ farewell concert.
In an interview with Burn! magazine, it was pointed out to LoMenzo that his band were the only one of the traditional ‘Big Four’ that did not play. “I’m going to let the cat out of the bag,” LoMenzo replied. “The truth of the matter is, I don’t believe that anybody asked us, which was fine.”
“Not everybody gets invited to every party,” he continued. “But at the same time, when we were in Europe last week, David [Mustaine] said that he was reaching out to everybody and telling them that we were in the neighborhood and that we were close enough to come. And if they wanted us to, we could stay over for a few days and work it out. . . . If they wanted us to. I don’t know what our manager had accomplished with that, but it didn’t get accomplished, so we just came home.”
