MEGADETH Guitarist TEEMU MÄNTYSAARI Performs 'Symphony Of Destruction' On Finnish TV show 'Elämäni Biisi'

MEGADETH guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari performed the band's classic song "Symphony Of Destruction" during last night's (Saturday, October 31) episode of the Finnish Yle TV show "Elämäni Biisi" (English translation: "Song Of My Life"). The special episode, dubbed "Metalloween", was broadcast live from Tampere. Video of his appearance can be seen below. It is also available on Yle Areena.

Hosted by Finnish journalist and presenter Katja Ståhl, "Elämäni Biisi" centers around a unique guessing game format. A panel of famous Finnish celebrities, public figures, and cultural icons sit on the couch. Each has secretly submitted one song that has profoundly impacted their life. After a live house band and a rotating lineup of star vocalists — including former BATTLE BEAST singer Noora Louhimo — perform each song, the guests must guess who chose which track. At the end of the episode, the choices are revealed, and the celebrities share the moving, funny, or deeply personal stories behind their selections. The guest panel shifts every week, featuring prominent figures from Finnish sports, politics, media and arts.

Mäntysaari was born in Tampere, Finland and began playing guitar at the age of 12. In 2004, he joined the band WINTERSUN. He has also been a member of SMACKBOUND since 2015.

MEGADETH's latest, self-titled album, the group's first with Mäntysaari, was released in January via a partnership between MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine's Tradecraft imprint and the Frontiers Label Group's new imprint BLKIIBLK.

Last year, Mäntysaari spoke to D'Addario about how he came to join MEGADETH in late 2023 as the replacement for Kiko Loureiro. He said at the time: "I was recruited on a short notice. It all happened kind of fast. First, it was kind of unclear if I'm gonna be needed or if I'm more kind of on standby. So I had learned the setlist, but it was not a hundred percent sure if I'm gonna be playing with the band or not. And then it was only like a week before the first tour when I got the visa in my hand and it was a hundred percent that I'm gonna be there."

Reflecting on his first show with MEGADETH, which took place on September 6, 2023 at Revel in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Mäntysaari said: "[It was] pretty unbelievable, surreal. By that time when the first show happened, everything had been moving along so fast that I didn't really have time to sit back and think, really, what's going on. I just tried to concentrate on learning the catalog as well as I could."

Teemu also talked about his musical influences, saying: "Heavy metal was what inspired me to pick up the guitar — IRON MAIDEN, classics, DIO. MEGADETH as well. MEGADETH was one of the first bands that I heard when I was getting into metal. I kind of tried to go with diverse influences. I played a little bit in a punk band. Fusion guitarists are some of my favorites, like Greg Howe and Guthrie Govan and Brett Garsed. I think I have a pretty strong blues foundation: Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Joe Bonamassa, Eric Gales. I love that stuff. And that was kind of really fun to get into at an early stage and try to kind of pick things by ear, because a lot of that is a little bit easier stuff and when you learn your 12-bar blues, then you can jam along to bunch of stuff."

He continued: "In my early twenties, I got into jazz more. I was doing the mandatory military service in Finland — I was playing in the army — and it was more of a jazz background band. That kind of forced me to learn more about that world as well, which was a lot of fun. Classical music as well. A lot of movie scores, especially exotic stuff like Chinese and Japanese movie soundtracks. So I try to keep my ears and eyes open and learn from everybody.

"Finland has a really strong metal culture, so even smaller bands are doing really well in Finland, and even internationally and have been doing so for a long time," Teemu explained. "When I was getting into metal and growing up, STRATOVARIUS, CHILDREN OF BODOM, NIGHTWISH, SONATA ARCTICA, those guys were pretty well known in the late '90s, STRATOVARIUS [having been] one of the pioneers already in the '80s. So it was really interesting to grow up in a small country and see that there's all these bands that are making it abroad as well, 'cause it was kind of encouraging in a way as well that you can make it from a small country or a small city. It's also kind of more maybe accepted culture in Finland, almost mainstream. You hear a lot of metal in the radio all day, so that's kind of nice."