DAVE MUSTAINE Says DIRK VERBEUREN's Drumming On MEGADETH's New Album Is 'Exceptional'

Dave Mustaine has praised Dirk Verbeuren's drumming on MEGADETH's new album.

Earlier today, the MEGADETH leader took to his Twitter to wish the Belgian-born-and-now-Los-Angeles-based drummer a happy 45th birthday. He wrote: "Happy birthday to my drummer extraordinaire, Dirk Verbeuren! You are a powerhouse and your drumming on the new record is exceptional. Have a great day, buddy!"

Verbeuren had been playing with SOILWORK for more than a decade before being recommended for the MEGADETH gig in 2016 by LAMB OF GOD's Chris Adler, who called Dirk "probably [one of the] top three drummers in the world."

MEGADETH's upcoming album will be the follow-up to 2016's "Dystopia", which earned a 2017 Grammy Award for "Best Metal Performance" for the LP's title track. The sessions for the new disc are taking place in Franklin, Tennessee with co-producer Chris Rakestraw, who previously worked on "Dystopia".

Dave told "Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon" back in June 2018 that some of the new MEGADETH music is turning out to be more extreme than anything the band has done in the past. "The stuff that Dirk's been playing along to it is scary," he said. "We've never had any of those blast-beat kind of things on our music before, and some of the drumming on this is so mind-blowing. It's making me a better guitar player again, which I love. But I never thought we were gonna be playing this fast or this aggressive again."

In interview with the KATT Rock 100.5 FM radio station, Mustaine described Dirk as "is one of the most pleasant, easy-to-get-along-with guys I've ever met in my life. I'll walk up to him and he'll smile and lean forward and pat me on the back. He goes [adopts thin accent], 'How's it going, buddy?' I could say, 'Oh, man…'… anything. 'Oh, okay, buddy.' [He] smiles and pats me, 'cause he's just a happy guy. I've never, ever, ever seen him not smile."

"Dystopia" was MEGADETH's first album with Brazilian guitarist Kiko Loureiro, who was previously best known for his work with ANGRA.

MEGADETH spent most of 2019 off the road while Mustaine received treatment for the throat cancer with which he was diagnosed last May.

The band's tour with FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH and BAD WOLVES will visit 14 European countries starting on January 20 at the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland and ending on February 20 at the Budapest Sportarena in Budapest, Hungary.