MEGADETH's JAMES LOMENZO Admits His 'Eyebrows Went Up' When DAVE MUSTAINE Said He Wanted To Record His Version Of METALLICA's 'Ride The Lightning'

In a new interview with Jorge Botas of Portugal's Metal Global, MEGADETH bassist James LoMenzo spoke about MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine's decision to include Dave's version of "Ride The Lightning", the title track of METALLICA's 1984 album for which he got a co-writing credit following his 1983 departure from the band, on the final MEGADETH album, simply titled "Megadeth". Asked what his reaction was when he heard that Dave wanted to record "Ride The Lightning" for "Megadeth", James said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I was delighted. I was surprised. My eyebrows went up, but I was kind of delighted that he was gonna even go there, because there's always that subliminal undercurrent tension — you know, 'Oh, METALLICA [versus] MEGADETH.' And I always thought, like, MEGADETH, for God's sake, I always thought Dave won in a way, because he's built this giant thing all by himself. And it made a lot of sense to me logically. It seemed like if this is the last thing we're gonna do, then we should go out, end with a bang, but also kind of address the full history of this band. And that's like step one. So I thought it was great in the end. But yes, my eyebrow went up when I heard him say that. Yeah."

After Botas noted that he thinks MEGADETH is a better band than METALLICA "when it comes to riffs and solos", James said: "I can't go on board with you there. I mean, I'm a company guy — sure, I think we're better, but semantically, I don't really believe that. It's all about taste and approach, right? And I think if Dave had stayed there [in METALLICA], it would've certainly been a lot more complex, but they would've not lost any energy that they had, METALLICA. It comes down to, like, who do you like better — MOTÖRHEAD or the RAMONES? One seems silly, one seems really serious, but I love them both. You know what I mean? And it's similar kind of driving music."

Asked if he knew, before MEGADETH went into the studio to make "Megadeth", that it was going to be billed as the band's final effort, James said: "No, no, no. This came about, like, three-quarters through. We were proceeding as if we were just doing another record, and as time went by… After we finished the record was basically when Dave had this meeting with us and said, 'You know, guys, this is kind of where we're at right now. And maybe instead of going out with a whimper, maybe we go out with a big, giant victorious thing.' And I think it was probably easier to make that decision after hearing the music that we had. 'Cause if we weren't convinced with the record, who'd wanna say, 'Oh, this is our last record. Sorry, this is the best we can do.' No, we were pretty excited with it. So, it was afterward. And looking down the road, I guess with Ozzy [Osbourne] and all these bands [going away or retiring] — I mean, he had such an illustrious career. There's so many bands that come and go, and they come back and they leave and all that stuff. And Dave's not that guy. So when he said that, I heard him loud and clear. It was, like, 'No, we have to really go out the right way if we're gonna do this at all.'"

According to LoMenzo, "It was actually a pleasure making the record without any expectation" of knowing that it would be MEGADETH's final album. "And those are the best albums," he said. "I mean, the ones I love the best are when the band just jumps in, and everybody who's got something throws it all together and then you see what you have. And people, the consortium of musicians in the band, they sort of give and take, and you kind of get the feeling about what shape the record's taking as it goes along. So, this was a record that we had a lot of good stuff. [Current MEGADETH guitarist] Teemu [Mäntysaari], being a new member, we didn't know what to expect. And my God — the kid came through with flying colors. He just has so many great riffs and his ability to perform is just unmatched. I've really not seen anybody who's quite that fast, as far as picking things up and putting his own stamp on it."

Earlier this month, LoMenzo was asked by Terry Palamara of Loud And Proud Italy how it felt to have a No. 1 album in the U.S. with "Megadeth". He responded: "We're walking on clouds. We are so elated by the response of the fans buying the record.

"You have to realize that both Dave and I come from this career of ours making records for years and years and years, going all the way back to the '80s, '90s. And it was a real hard thing to let everybody know you had a record. And then get it out on the radio and make sure that you could promote it and make sure they knew the music was there. That meant nothing if the audience didn't really love what they were hearing. So at this point for MEGADETH, to have a No. 1, to be included with MEGADETH on this album release, for me it's a career high. I've never experienced anything quite like this."

LoMenzo added: "We've spoken to each other over the past couple of days in celebration, preparing to go for our tour to Canada, and we just cannot thank our fans enough for showing such interest in this new record, in this final record, which is really gratifying to bring the legacy of MEGADETH to this really terrific close."

Asked if Mustaine knew already early during the songwriting process that "Megadeth" would turn out to be MEGADETH's final effort, especially since a song like "The Last Note" sees Mustaine writing about touring and leaving the band behind, LoMenzo said: "You know what?! If he did, he never intimated that to us. He never shared that with us going into the record. We came off tour last year, and we had decided to an album and find a new label. Frontiers was terrific, but it was just gonna be business as usual. We tried to make a really good MEGADETH record. And we really focused on trying to find out what there was in all the albums past that kind of made them so MEGADETH-y, and tried to really focus together and really intellectually think about what made some records work better than others, some songs better than others, what fans really enjoy. We know it 'cause we play the hits every night when we get out there. So we kind of know what the parameters of that are. So we discussed that. So there was no indication. I mean, Dave was just gung-ho, 'Let's just make a great MEGADETH record.' And it wasn't until we were, like, halfway, two-thirds through that he started letting us know where he was at with it all. And you would think at one point, everybody would be, like, 'Oh, man, come on.' Teemu had just joined the band and all that. But we've seen [Dave] out there and we've seen ourselves out there. And touring is not for the faint of heart unless you're 19; [I] used to be 19. Doing it at this level and bringing the music to the masses takes a lot. And Dave's a bionic dude now. Everybody's well aware of his history. So for him to get out there and really wanna do it really speaks volumes. Giving in to the idea that maybe his hands might not be working as well in the future going forward, it really made a lot of sense to all of us, this was the time to really celebrate MEGADETH and bring this thing to its potential close. And I think Dave was a warrior. He never really gets the lyrics all going until the end of the record, to answer your first question. So, we'll go out there, record some stuff, and he'll start writing and putting stuff up and testing, and he'll send it to us and ask us our opinions. And I've done a few of these records with Dave before, and it really starts to — it's like a snowball; the lyrics get better and better. So what ended up happening in this case was when I finally heard 'The Last Note', and I really heard 'The Last Note', the last version of it, it put a lump in my throat 'cause I could really feel Dave's journey. And I didn't expect that. I didn't expect him to be that candid and honest about things. And so the follow-up was we should let the audience know that we're gonna gonna chug this thing out as long as it's possible. And if you put it into a number, I mean, yeah, a couple of touring cycles is probably what would do it."

Regarding what his personal songwriting contributions to "Megadeth" were, James said: "In my case, I do what I've done for most of my career as a bass player. Bass players are weird people, most of them, in that we don't require the spotlight. Real bass players kind of have this roundabout way of looking at things where we love to really service the music to make it as good as it can be. Okay, so the genre of metal — sure, there's the great metal bass players like Steve Harris [IRON MAIDEN], who leads the band in a way. MEGADETH's never been that. So I have to come in with that attitude and go, 'Okay, how do I support what's going on?' And any good musician would listen first and then add later. If it's not my song we're working on, and it's Dave's song or it's Teemu's song or it's Dirk's [Verbeuren, MEGADETH drummer] song, I have to listen to what's going on and decide what would elevate it and probably not just egotistically step on people's toes and do a big show-off in a space where it doesn't belong. So, I think this record is probably the most refined I've been as far as contributing to the music. Whenever we'd sit around in a circle and put things, we'd all kind of go, 'Hey, try this' or 'Try this riff.' And we'd put it down and then we'd listen to it and go, 'Well, that works better than that.' So, some of my music ended up with the other guys' music on their songs. And that's kind of the way MEGADETH works. It's this great democracy that has a fantastic traffic cop, Dave, who really knows, because he's walked this whole journey his whole life, who really knows what it's going to be in the end. And you can't be in this band without trusting that. Otherwise I think you're gonna fail the whole thing."

"Megadeth" debuted at the top of the U.S. album chart after earning 73,000 equivalent album units in the United States in the week ending January 29, according to Luminate. The bulk of that sum was driven by pure album sales (purchases of physical and digital copies of the album),totaling 69,000. The follow-up to "The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!" was released via Mustaine's Tradecraft imprint on Frontiers Label Group's new BLKIIBLK label.

MEGADETH also claimed the top spot in Australia (highest previous position No. 2) and Austria (highest previous position No. 8). Other top five spots included No. 2 in Finland (and No. 1 physical),Sweden (plus No. 1 physical; highest previous position No. 9),and Belgium (highest previous position: No. 6); No. 3 in both the U.K. and Germany (highest previous position No. 6); No. 4 in the Netherlands (highest previous position No. 7); and No. 5 in both Italy (highest previous position No. 15) and New Zealand (highest chart position ever).

"The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!" sold 48,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at position No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart. It marked MEGADETH's eighth top 10-charting album.

MEGADETH's previous top 10 entries on the Billboard 200 were "Countdown To Extinction" (No. 2, 1992),"Youthanasia" (No. 4, 1994),"Cryptic Writings" (No. 10, 1997),"United Abominations" (No. 8, 2007),"Endgame" (No. 9, 2009),"Super Collider" (No. 6, 2013) and "Dystopia" (No. 3, 2016).

For its final album, MEGADETH once again worked with Chris Rakestraw, a producer, mixer and engineer who previously worked on MEGADETH's last two LPs, the aforementioned "The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!" and "Dystopia".