At 38, Teemu Mäntysaari is Megadeth’s youngest – and newest – member. He was handpicked by Megadeth’s commander-in-chaos, Dave Mustaine, to carry on a lead-guitar legacy that includes Chris Poland, Marty Friedman and Kiko Loureiro.
He’s helming the band’s six-string duties (besides Mustaine, of course) for their final studio album and tour. But Mäntysaari isn’t sweating it.
“It was a pretty amazing process,” he says. “After I got the gig, Dave said, ‘If you have any ideas, it’s good to start saving them.’ By the end of the 2024 touring season, we started talking more and more about what we wanted to do.”
Mäntysaari says that one of the first things Mustaine had the band do was listen to the group’s entire 16-album discography to springboard them into what would become 2026’s Megadeth.
“We’d have an Excel spreadsheet where we’d make notes about every song,” Mäntysaari says. “That was the first bit of inspiration, and also, us looking back at the legacy of the band.”
By the time Megadeth’s final run is done, unlike Mustaine, Mäntysaari will have his entire career ahead of him. He’ll walk away with cache, but there’s more to it.
“It was a lot of learning,” he says. “Dave was telling us about how those songs from back in the day came about. It was really inspiring, and it helped us understand how to make a good Megadeth album.”
Megadeth has an old-school feel. Was that intentional?
Absolutely. We really wanted to honor the old-school Megadeth sound and have some of that punk attitude, plus some of the rougher, raw edges with sprinkles of modern production – but not too modern! We created something new and cool that reminds you of something [older] but still sounds fresh.
When did Dave tell you this would be the final Megadeth record?
Pretty late in the process. We were in the studio for a good 10 months, and that’s when there were first talks about the “farewell” idea. So most of the album was done, I’d say. But, for example, the lyrics for The Last Note were done after the farewell decision, so we really didn’t think about it while making the other songs.
How did the news make you feel?
I have huge appreciation for Dave. It’s super-exciting to have my name printed in the [album] booklet; that’s probably only going to hit when you actually see the physical product. But I haven’t thought about it too much; I’m just living in the moment and making the best of the time we have. And the farewell tour isn’t going to be short; we’re going to go everywhere.
Did Dave give you a lot of freedom from a guitar perspective while recording?
There were a bunch of times when Dave had an idea, and then there was a Dropbox folder for the band where everybody could contribute their ideas. So we’d keep track of ideas that could maybe go together stylistically and tempo-wise.
Some were snippets of a riff, some were fuller arrangements. It was like Lego pieces you put together. Dave has a huge catalog of things that haven’t been used, so we all contributed.
Given that you wanted a timeless yet fresh record, what gear did you use?
We basically had a chance to try anything we wanted. I brought a few amps to the studio, and I like to tweak sounds. One of the main things I brought was a German amp by a builder called Eddie Lenz [Lenz Amplification], which he tweaked to my taste.
But we ended up using mostly Friedman. And the producer, Chris Rakestraw, has a big pedal wall connected to this MIDI switching system, so we could easily engage any sound we wanted. So we had a lot of fun exploring tones, but all the amps were in the classic Megadeth direction – modified Marshalls, British sounds, but with some modern tightness.
What will you take away from having played lead guitar on Megadeth’s final LP?
I really value collaboration, having a common goal and good vibes. It was a lot of long days, but the good communication and appreciation of everyone’s input were two of the biggest takeaways. I like the power of collaboration.
- Megadeth is out now via Frontiers.
- This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.
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