Megadeth May Push Back New Album Until After the Pandemic
Megadeth have been working on the follow-up to 2016’s Dystopia since last year; it’s tentatively scheduled for release in 2021, and may or may not be called The Sick, the Dying and the Dead, according to Dave Mustaine.
But, like many bands unsure of how to conduct business during a pandemic in which touring is impossible, Megadeth might hold onto the record until life is back to something approaching “normal.”
This latest bit comes from bassist David Ellefson, not Mustaine, so take it with a grain of salt. Still, if there’s anyone in the band aside from Mustaine to believe when it comes to these things, it’d certainly be Ellefson, the longest tenured member by far. And it’s not as if bands delaying new albums until after Covid is a novel idea.
Speaking to TotalRock Radio, Ellefson said:
“We’re working on album number sixteen, and just finishing it up now. We’ve got a big year of touring lined up — festivals in Europe; the big ‘The Metal Tour Of The Year’ is rescheduled for July and August this year; Rock In Rio in Brazil in September. And it’s all confirmed, but it depends on what — COVID has a say in this matter, unfortunately. So there’s this undecided third factor spinning over there with the pandemic that we’re just all doing the best we can to play around that. And the same with the Megadeth release schedule, being able to put things out,”
“We’re gonna wanna be able to get on the road and promote it. It doesn’t make sense to drop a brand new record in the middle of a pandemic and not be able to support that. And so if that means we have to push things back a little bit so that it can be the most effective to tour it and support it, then I’m sure those are decisions that are being made… Quite honestly, those are decisions that get updated pretty much weekly inside the Megadeth camp.”
It’s interesting to note that the band still thinks they’ll be touring in July and August, which seems highly unlikely from where I sit. It’s also interesting that the band communicates weekly, an Ellefson concedes the situation is in constant flux. It’s just gonna have to be one of those “wait and see” things… but don’t be surprised if we’re not hearing new Megadeth until fall of this year, or even 2022.
[via Metal Injection]
