“It was about completing the circle and us showing what James and I as guitar players did to change the world”: Dave Mustaine reveals why Megadeth are covering Metallica on their final album

Dave Mustaine has revealed he has some unfinished business with Metallica. When Megadeth release their final studio album in January 2026, the eponymous thrasher will sign off with a ripping cover of Metallica’s Ride the Lightning.

And Mustaine promises that the mid-paced, headbanging title-track from Metallica’s sophomore album will be performed as you will never have heard it before.

The question is why? In a YouTube video, Mustaine explains everything. In short, it’s a tribute. He wants to “close the circle” before riding off into the sunset, and to pay tribute to the early days of Metallica when he and frontman/guitarist James Hetfield were straining at the leash to get their songs out there, on tape, and to turn metal guitar upside down.

“Obviously, the song, I had a lot to do with writing it,” says Mustaine. “James and I, when we were working on the song, it became clear to me, when James first started playing guitar, how good of a guitar player he was. And I thought it would be really cool to close the circle, to show respect, to play the songs that I’ve written with Metallica and to honor our friendship – even though it’s been strained and ruined from emotions over the years, when we were not necessarily friendly.”

Ah yes, not necessarily friendly. Historically, Mustaine has scarcely needed an excuse to talk about Metallica. His acrimonious 1983 departure from the band has been recurring theme in his career, a regular talking point in interviews, with an on/off and largely one-way feud lasting decades but now has largely thawed.

But Mustaine insists that all this is water under bridge – Hetfield and Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich are officially on his Christmas card list – and what better way to show that than put Ride the Lightning on a Megadeth record?

“One thing I’ve always said is I’ve always had a tremendous respect for James’ guitar playing – and Lars’ songwriting,” he says. “So it was cool to do this and add it to the record.”

Mustaine says he and Megadeth lead guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari have been playing around with the arrangement.

It has long been a staple of Megadeth concerts, that when performing Mechanix – a track sharing much DNA with Metallica’s The Four Horsemen, another ‘Tallica song that Mustaine co-wrote – he would play the riff and say something to the effect, “This is how they play it…” and then play it again at Mechanix tempo, i.e. much quicker.

So it will be no great surprise that when we hear this version of Ride the Lightning to hear it faster. Also, expect fireworks in the solo.

“We sped it up just a little teeny bit, and we kind of played around a little bit with the solo,” reveals Mustaine. “Teemu and I both tossed it back and forth to each other. So you might hear a little bit of some differences with the tempos, and of course, I sing different from James too.”

On this occasion, however, Mustaine says it’s not thrash metal oneupmanship. It’s a tribute, y’know, to himself, but also, of course, to Papa Het.

“It was about completing the circle and just us showing what James and I as guitar players did to change the world,” he says.

Megadeth - Symphony Of Destruction - YouTube

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Historians disagree on when the Great Epic Thawing of Megadeth and Metallica Relations first happened. Some might date it to 2004, when Mustaine appeared in the Metallica rockumentary, Some Kind of Monster, and there was a full and frank sharing of emotions. Others would say 2010 was when it ended, with both bands sharing the bill with Anthrax and Slayer as The Big Four of thrash metal embarked on a stadium tour. That was the Berlin Wall coming down.

But there are plenty of incidences lately when Mustaine has been keen to offer praise Metallica’s way. In 2023, he admitted to Louder that Hetfield’s abilities as a guitar player blew his mind.

“I was kind of playing at Lars’ level, because Lars was still learning to play drums back then,” said Mustaine. “But watching James play guitar for the first time was kind of shocking, because I didn’t know he knew how to play guitar.”

Mustaine even had some kind words for Kirk Hammett, the man who replaced him as lead guitarist, telling Guitar World that Hammett honored Mustaine’s role in the band by playing his solos and not changing them.

“Jokes aside, I’ve always kind of poked fun at Kirk. And unfairly so, as he never did anything to me,” said Mustaine. “Whenever I felt singled out, picked on, or antagonized by James or Lars, it was really easy to pick on Kirk. But the truth is Kirk did me an honor by trying to play my solos on those early songs the way he did.

“I think that some people would have just started over again. So, I thought it was honorable that Kirk took my solos and did his best to play them as I did. That couldn’t have been easy.”

It's time to complete the circle. "Ride the Lightning" will be released on January 23rd. - YouTube

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Mustaine even defended Hammett from the trolls, insisting that the Metallica shredder-in-chief has never dropped his level.

“There was a time when Kirk won every guitar contest in the world, and I don't think he's gotten any better or worse as a player,” said Mustaine. “He’s always been really good. Kirk was a good player when he was in Exodus. And he’s been steady the entire time he’s been in Metallica.”

Megadeth is scheduled for release on 23 January 2026 via Frontiers Records.