🔥 Rock Shock: Dave Mustaine Finally Reveals Why Megadeth Are Covering Metallica on Their Farewell Album — Fans Can’t Believe It!

Megadeth’s upcoming album will feature Dave Mustaine and the band taking on a Metallica classic that he co-wrote back in the early days — and Mustaine teases that fans have never heard “Ride the Lightning” quite like this before.

Dave Mustaine has announced that he still has some unfinished business with Metallica. When Megadeth drop their final studio album in January 2026, the legendary frontman plans to close things out with a blazing cover of Metallica’s Ride the Lightning.

Mustaine promises that Megadeth’s version of the mid-tempo, headbanging title track from Metallica’s second album will sound like nothing you’ve ever heard before.

But why the cover? In a recent YouTube video, Mustaine lays it all out — it’s his way of paying tribute. He says he wants to “close the circle” before bowing out, honoring the early Metallica days when he and James Hetfield were hungry to record their music and revolutionize metal guitar forever.

Of course, it’s not all warm and fuzzy. Historically, Mustaine has rarely missed a chance to bring up Metallica. His bitter 1983 exit from the band has lingered as a recurring theme throughout his career — fueling countless interviews and a decades-long, mostly one-sided feud that has only recently cooled off.

These days, though, Mustaine insists the past is behind them. He says it’s all water under the bridge — and with James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich now “officially on his Christmas card list,” what better way to prove it than by putting Ride the Lightning on a Megadeth record?

“I’ve always said I have immense respect for James’ guitar work and for Lars’ songwriting,” Mustaine shared. “So getting the chance to do this and include it on the album felt really special.”

At Megadeth shows, it’s long been tradition that when Mustaine launches into Mechanix—a song that shares its roots with Metallica’s The Four Horsemen, another track he co-wrote—he’ll often tease the audience by playing the riff, remarking, “This is how they play it…” before ripping through it again at Mechanix speed — much faster.

So it shouldn’t come as a shock if Megadeth’s take on Ride the Lightning cranks up the tempo, too. And knowing Mustaine, you can bet there’ll be some serious fireworks in the solo.

“We sped it up just a little bit and had some fun with the solo,” Mustaine reveals. “Teemu and I traded parts back and forth, so you’ll notice a few tempo changes here and there — and of course, my vocals don’t sound like James’s.”

Still, Mustaine insists this isn’t about thrash metal one-upmanship. It’s a tribute — to Metallica, to the legacy he helped build, and, in a way, to himself.

“It was about completing the circle,” he explains. “About showing what James and I did as guitarists to change the world.”

As for when the great Megadeth–Metallica thaw officially began, historians can’t quite agree. Some trace it back to 2004, when Mustaine appeared in Some Kind of Monster and shared some emotional moments with his former bandmates. Others point to 2010, when Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax joined forces for The Big Four stadium tour — a true “Berlin Wall coming down” moment in metal history.