Written by January 23, 2026. Megadeth releases its 17th and final studio album—simply titled Megadeth—and Dave Mustaine ends 41 years of thrash metal warfare on his own terms.It began in 1981 Los Angeles. A fiery 20-year-old Mustaine, fresh from a rough childhood in suburban Michigan, answers Lars Ulrich’s ad and helps forge Metallica. His blazing leads define early classics, but clashes with the band peak in April 1983. Fired and sent home on a Greyhound with five dollars in his pocket, Mustaine turns betrayal into fuel.
Three months later Megadeth rises from the ashes. With bassist Dave Ellefson, guitarist Chris Poland, and drummer Gar Samuelson, 1985’s Killing Is My Business… instantly outsells Metallica’s debut. Revenge becomes legacy: Peace Sells… (1986), the platinum masterpiece Rust in Peace (1990), and the chart-topping Countdown to Extinction (1992).
Lineup changes, a near-fatal arm injury, and personal battles couldn’t stop him. Clean, focused, and still vicious, Mustaine kept delivering into the 2020s.Now, at 64, he records one last time with guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari, and bassist James LoMenzo and drummer Dirk Verbeuren . The new Megadeth is unrelenting: galloping singles “Tipping Point” and “I Don’t Care,” plus a ferocious re-recording of “Ride the Lightning”—the song he wrote for Metallica back in ’83. This time it’s closure, not a jab.“It’s everything I needed to say,” Mustaine told Rolling Stone. “Time to hang up the axe.”