As Megadeth proceed to journey out their closing chapter, at present within the thick of their grand farewell tour after releasing one final batch of tracks, frontman Dave Mustaine is feeling nostalgic. With the band’s conclusive 2026 document, Megadeth, honouring the band’s profession, most followers went wild over its Journey The Lightning cowl specifically – a nod to Mustaine’s historical past with Metallica.

In a brand new video, Mustaine displays on why he felt it was mandatory to supply his personal cowl of Journey The Lightning. As he explains, he helped write the observe throughout his quick stint in Metallica between 1981 and 1983, and this can be a approach of placing his personal spit on it. “I wrote with the band on that tune, so it simply appeared just like the pure factor to do,” he says. “[It was a way of] closing the circle. Pay my respects to the band that I obtained my break in, and let James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich understand how I actually really feel about stuff.”

Through the years, Mustaine and Metallica haven’t precisely seen eye to eye. Nevertheless, Mustaine insists that that is his approach of placing an finish to their notorious ‘feud’, noting that each one previous bitterness is now water below the bridge. “I consider that James is a wonderful guitar participant and that Lars is an incredible songwriter,” he insists.

He even digs into the primary time he ever noticed Hetfield carry out. As Mustaine explains, he all the time knew that the Metallica frontman was a really gifted chap, proper from the primary time he noticed Hetfield riffing away in rehearsal. “He [wasn’t] taking part in guitar like anyone on this room would… he’s taking part in guitar like me,” he recollects. “I assumed, ‘No fucking approach this man is that good…’”

Mustaine additionally notes how the tune utilises the Spider Chord, his signature chord that he insists he “invented”. The chord primarily permits the guitarist to switching between energy chords on adjoining strings, whereas minimising the necessity to transfer your fret hand – and it’s in Journey The Lightning. “It’s in a number of songs that I’ve penned,” he explains, noting Megadeth’s 1986 observe Wake Up Lifeless additionally options it.

Megadeth additionally made positive so as to add some further character to Journey The Lightning, slightly than simply producing a cut-and-dry cowl. “We sped it up a little bit bit… and there’s 4 drum fills on the finish,” the frontman explains. “[We thought we’d add] a little bit little bit of our aptitude to it.”

He additionally makes a tiny, jestful remark about how the brand new model tries to sway away from sounding “an excessive amount of like Kirk Hammett attempting to repeat [Mustaine’s playing]”. However, all jokes apart, Mustaine insists that the quilt is all in good religion. “It honours James taking part in and singing,” he concludes. “[He’s a] nice singer too, fuck! I used to be attempting to sing that tune and a few of it actually pushed my vocal means!”

Proper now, Megadeth’s closing tour is in full swing. For more information, head to Megadeth’s official web site.