As Megadeth prepares to release their final studio album, simply titled Megadeth, frontman Dave Mustaine is looking back at his origins. In a new interview, the thrash metal icon explained his decision to include a reimagined version of the Metallica classic “Ride The Lightning” on the record, describing it as a necessary tribute to his former bandmates.
Speaking on the December 5 episode of SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk,” Mustaine revealed that the idea emerged during a strategy meeting with his management team regarding the traditional cover song slot on the album.
“We were just kind of yacking about what the cover song was gonna be on the record, ’cause we always did cover songs on our records,” Mustaine explained (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “But this wasn’t a cover song, because I wrote it with James [Hetfield, Metallica frontman]. And it just became clear that I should do this, because if I’m going to ride off into the sunset, I wanna pay tribute to the band that I started in, and I wanted to make mention about what I think about James.”
Mustaine, who was fired from Metallica in 1983 but received writing credits on their first two albums, took time to praise Hetfield‘s musical ability. He recounted a specific memory from the early 1980s involving a temporary guitarist named Brad Parker (who performed under the name Damian Phillips). According to Mustaine, Parker showed up to a gig at the Whisky A Go Go wearing “Rudy Sarzo garb” and a “giant feather earring,” which didn’t sit well with the band.
When Mustaine arrived at the next rehearsal, Parker was gone, and Hetfield had taken over guitar duties entirely.
“It was just James playing guitar — like a motherf**ker,” Mustaine recalled. “And I thought, ‘How did this happen? How did this guy go from singer to a great guitar player like this?’ And I was excited for me. I was excited for the band.”
When it came time to select a track for the new Megadeth album, Mustaine felt that revisiting material from Metallica‘s debut, Kill ‘Em All, would have been too obvious, noting that Megadeth had already re-recorded “The Mechanix” (which became Metallica‘s “The Four Horsemen“). He also dismissed “The Call of Ktulu” because the final version differed too much from his original vision.
Ultimately, “Ride The Lightning” felt like the correct choice. However, Mustaine approached the recording with a competitive mindset.
“I’ve always believed when you do a song from somebody, you’ve gotta do it as good or better — you’ve got to,” he stated. “So we sped it up a little bit and we beefed up a couple parts, just to make them a little bit more modern. And there you have it.”
The re-recorded track will appear as a bonus song on Megadeth, which is due for release in January 2026.
