Megadeth's New Album Is 'Up There' With Classic Albums Says Ellefson

Megadeth bassist and cofounder David Ellefson says in a new interview that he agreed with Dave Mustaine comparing their forthcoming album to some of the band's most love records.

Mustaine shared the working title of the new album recently as "The Sick, The Dying and The Dead," but he also cautioned that names often change with the band.

Ellefson was asked about the possibility of the album's name being changed during an appearance on the Rock 'N' Roll Icons With Bode James podcast and he responded, "We had a saying back in the old days: 'Nothing's final until it's on vinyl.'

"So, Everything can change. Probably short of the name of the band, everything can change. It's all just a work in progress, and I think that's the beauty of the creative world.

"People wanna know answers, like, 'What does it sound like? Does it sound like this album? Does it sound like that album?' And it's, like, 'Hey, man, I can't really tell you.' It's a work in progress until it's done. And then once it's done, you'll hear it, and then we'll all have a little talk about it."

Ellefson was also asked about Mustaine saying that the new record will be "up there with 'Countdown [To Extinction]', 'Rust In Peace' and probably 'Peace Sells' and 'Dystopia'."

He responded, "I would very much agree. Look, Megadeth has done a lot of stuff over the years. Some fans go, 'Oh, dude, make it thrash, thrash.' And we do, 'Dystopia' proved that. But you can't just be a one-trick pony.

"We've never been a one-trick pony. Even on the earlier records, 'Killing Is My Business', started with a piano. 'Peace Sells' had a song on it called 'Good Mourning', which went into 'Black Friday', it was basically kind of an acoustic guitar bit.

"We've done a lot of different stuff over the years. So with Megadeth, you get a lot of diversity. And the musicians that are in the group, I think we challenge each other; we raise the bar for each other. And it inspires us to keep creating next-level stuff.

"So, I think that's kind of the beauty of what you get with Megadeth, is you get a lot. You get a pretty big bang for your buck, I think." Check out the podcast below: