TEEMU MÄNTYSAARI On New MEGADETH Album: 'It's Super Exciting To Have My Name Printed In The Booklet'

In a new interview with Guitar World magazine, MEGADETH guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari was asked when the band's leader Dave Mustaine told him MEGADETH's new, self-titled album was going to be the group's final effort. The 39-year-old Finnish-born musician said: "Pretty late in the process. We were in the studio for a good 10 months, and that's when there were first talks about the 'farewell' idea. So most of the album was done, I'd say. But, for example, the lyrics for 'The Last Note' were done after the farewell decision, so we really didn't think about it while making the other songs."

Asked how the news of MEGADETH embarking on a "farewell" tour and releasing its final album made him feel, Teemu said: "I have huge appreciation for Dave. It's super exciting to have my name printed in the [album] booklet; that's probably only going to hit when you actually see the physical product. But I haven't thought about it too much; I'm just living in the moment and making the best of the time we have. And the farewell tour isn't going to be short; we're going to go everywhere."

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 new album, the group's first with Mäntysaari, was released on January 23 via a partnership between Mustaine's Tradecraft imprint and the Frontiers Label Group's new imprint BLKIIBLK.

MEGADETH once again worked with Chris Rakestraw, a producer, mixer and engineer who previously worked on the band's previous two albums, 2022's "The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!" and 2016's "Dystopia".

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."

In August 2024, Mustaine was asked by Chuck Armstrong of "Loudwire Nights" how the dynamic within MEGADETH has changed since Mäntysaari's addition to the band. Mustaine responded: "Well, we are a band again. It doesn't feel like me and some side players or some session guys. Not that it felt like that with any of the previous lineups, but that was one of the fears that I had. I feel like Kiko did us a really huge courtesy by helping us find Teemu because with Kiko needing to step down… I thought I was gonna finish my career out with Kiko, and when things came up with him, he couldn't tour anymore because he needed to be home for his kids. So I see he's touring again, which I'm happy that he's still playing. But he had to go home. And when he did, he introduced us to Teemu. And it was an even closer connection between me and Teemu than Kiko and I had. We'll [Kiko and I] always be friends, but this new relationship I have is — it harkens me back to the days when we had Marty Friedman in the band and the four of us actually felt like a band."

Earlier in August 2024, Mustaine was asked by Kyle Meredith what Mäntysaari has brought to MEGADETH that wasn't there before. Mustaine responded: "God, he's such an amazing talent. And as far as being a human is concerned, he's a really humble guy. He's fun to be around because he's kind of — there's this 'greenness' to him, if that's a word, greenness. He makes it really fun because he's gone from being in a band that was pretty well known to being in MEGADETH. And so everything's very new for him at this level. And for us, we get to kind of enjoy ourselves, because we sometimes forget where we're at and then you see other people that, 'Wow, the bread is round and so is the meat,' that kind of shit. And it just makes him really happy, and it just reminds you of how good you have it."

Regarding how much a lineup change like that actually alters the musical DNA of the band, Dave said: "Well, it depends on who the new player is. If they're willing to learn the parts, then the songs either, they stay where they are or they get better. And a lot of times when you have a new player, like when Teemu came in, he played everything identical to the original players. So, he's been one of the best guitar players to step in and play somebody else's stuff."