Megadeth's new album The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead! originally featured bassist David Ellefson up until he was fired from Megadeth back in May 2021 after a highly-publicized sexual affair. Instead, the album features bass parts by Steve Di Giorgio of Testament fame. Megadeth recently welcomed James LoMenzo as their permanent new bassist and has since announced The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead! to be out this September.
Now in an interview with Kerrang! Radio, Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine said he wishes LoMenzo could've played on the new record, but that he just wanted to move on from the situation. "It's really unfortunate that [James] wasn't on the record, but at the time when everything happened, all I wanted to do was just move on," he said. "The time had come. And there had been enough stuff that had led up to where it just was time."
Mustaine went on to compare LoMenzo's talents and knowledge of the instrument to the late and great Cliff Burton of Metallica.
"The bass is important, and James LoMenzo is by far, I think, one of the deepest bass players that I've had a chance to play with, including Cliff. Cliff was fantastic, and he was a very deep bass player as far as talent goes. And James has a wealth of knowledge — he's played with a lot of people: Ozzy; he's played with me before — and he's not a slouch by any means. He's been to the top of the mountain. And the one thing that he has that we really haven't experienced a lot of is superb singing."
Pre-orders for The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead! are available here. On how he feels about the record itself, Mustaine recently states "For the first time in a long time, everything that we needed on this record is right in its place. I can't wait for the public to get hold of this!" The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead! is also the first Megadeth record to feature drummer Dirk Verbeuren (ex-Soilwork, etc.).
