MEGADETH Taps LAMB OF GOD Producer JOSH WILBUR For New Album Mix

MEGADETH has tapped Josh Wilbur (LAMB OF GOD, ALL THAT REMAINS, GOJIRA) to mix the band's fifteenth album, which was recently recorded in a Nashville studio. The production duties on the follow-up to 2013's "Super Collider" were handled by MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine and Toby Wright (ALICE IN CHAINS, KORN).

Mustaine tweeted on Friday (July 24): "I heard the first pass at an official mix for the song 'The Threat Is Real' that Josh Wilbur did. I'm thrilled he's mixing!"

The new MEGADETH album will be the band's first to feature LAMB OF GOD drummer Chris Adler and Brazilian guitarist Kiko Loureiro, best known for his work with ANGRA. They were recruited earlier this year following the departures of drummer Shawn Drover and Chris Broderick, who have since launched a new project called ACT OF DEFIANCE.

Other songtitles set to appear on the CD include "The New Emperor", "Tyrannicide", the two-part opus "Conquer… Or Die" and "Poisonous Shadows". The latter track features piano playing from Kiko as well as orchestration from famed Nashville arranger Ronn Huff, the father of former MEGADETH producer Dann Huff. MEGADETH also recorded two cover versions during the sessions for the new CD: "Melt The Ice Away" by BUDGIE and "Foreign Policy" by FEAR.

Mustaine recently told Revolver magazine about MEGADETH's forthcoming CD: "There's a lot of riffing going on in there, that's for damn sure," he said. "There's a lot of solos, a lot of pounding drums and bass. I knew from the start that I wanted to go back to my roots, and I wanted to make a thrash record."

He also talked about MEGADETH's new lineup, which made its live debut earlier this month at the Festival D'été De Québec (also known as by its acronym FEQ, or Quebec City Summer Festival in English),in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.

"When Chris and Shawn left, it saddened me a little because they didn't say goodbye," Mustaine said. "They were pissed, because they'd gotten word that people wanted the 'Rust In Peace' [lineup] reunion [with guitarist Marty Friedman and drummer Nick Menza]. And frankly, I didn't; I was happy with those two guys. So when they left, it was like, 'It isn't going to be easy to replace them!'"

He continued: "We haven't found a permanent drummer yet, but finding Kiko was really a mind-blower. It was the first time since Marty Friedman joined the band that I was really intimidated as a player. He's such an amazing talent, and he's been coming in with all of these fresh ideas."

Adler, who has previously said that MEGADETH was the band that made him want to start drumming to begin with, was involved during the songwriting process for the group's new album. "MEGADETH is MEGADETH," Mustaine told Revolver, "and the songs will kind of tell you where they go. But there were several times while we were tracking where Chris would say, 'I think these parts should go like this, because that's how my MEGADETH is.' I was like, 'Yeah, I like that 'my MEGADETH' stuff!'"