Ellefson was fired from the thrash band in 2021, when it emerged that he had sexually interacted with a fan online, which Mustaine saw as immoral and promptly sacked him. In an interview with the Quemar Un Patrullero podcast, Ellefson said that he believed Metallica dealt with Mustaine’s firing better. The dispute comes down to Metallica’s James Hetfield, Cliff Burton and Lars Ulrich still using Mustaine’s music on their 1983 debut ‘Kill ‘Em All’. By contrast, when Mustaine fired Ellefson in 2021, it turned out that he cut his music and used replacement musicians to reproduce the former bassist’s playing on 2022’s ‘The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead!’. 

Ellefson said that “when Dave got fired from Metallica, at least they kept his words and his music and they paid him and gave him credit. Dave wasn’t so kind to me”. While he claimed he did not feel too much anger at not being able to tour one last time with the band following his sacking, he says it did not matter much to him because he had toured extensively behind 2016’s ‘Dystopia’. “I don’t have bitterness in my heart”, says Ellefson. The bassist also compared how he dealt with his firing to how Mustaine dealt with his 1983 sacking, “whereas Dave had bitterness toward Metallica, I don’t have bitterness toward Dave or Megadeth.” 

The comments are part of an over four decade debate over Mustaine’s firing from Metallica due to his alcoholism and drug abuse prior to the debut album’s recording. Mustaine has, at length, condemned Metallica and publicly critiqued his replacement Kirk Hammett. In recent times, Mustaine has been more generous to Metallica and even appeared on stage with them in 2011, on the 40th anniversary of their formation. In January, Megadeth released their eponymous final album and plan to retire soon, ending the album with a cover of the 1984 Metallica classic ‘Ride the Lightning’ from the album of the same name. 

When the album was released in January, Ellefson publicly reviewed the album. Despite praising the contributions of guitarist Teemu Mantysaari and lyrics on songs like ‘The Last Note’, he disliked the way in which Mustaine was winding the band up. “I think it’s a sin to just go off and claim it as his own”, he claimed, condemning his former singer’s decision to close the band without consulting him. Because of his absence, he said that he did not really believe it was a Megadeth album, adding that “it sounds like Dave doing what Dave does but with a different set of guys in a new day. And this is Dave’s retirement.”

This marks one of the biggest headline tours Disturbed has ever embarked upon, taking place from September 28 to October 28, 2025. The tour will hit major venues across the continent, including the 20,000-capacity O2 Arena in East London.

Originally released on March 7, 2000, ‘The Sickness‘ propelled Disturbed to international fame, featuring tracks such as ‘Down With The Sickness’ and ‘Stupify’. The album peaked at number 100 in the UK and only spent one week on charts, however it has since achieved five times Platinum certification in the US and Gold status in the UK. To mark the album’s 25th anniversary, Disturbed will also release a special expanded edition on March 7, 2025. This version will include b-sides, demos, and previously unreleased songs, offering fans a fresh look at the album that launched their career.

At a recent X Spaces Event, Dave Mustang revealed: “Right now I’m in the studio working with [engineer] Chris Rakestraw, and everybody else is gone. Teemu [Mäntysaari, guitars] is in Switzerland and James [LoMenzo, bass] and Dirk [Verbeuren, drums] are in Los Angeles. So it’s just me here by myself with Chris. And Chris leaves tomorrow to go on a vacation, and I’m working up to the last second today to get as much done as I can before he takes off because we won’t be starting again until he returns somewhere around New Year’s Day. And at that point, it’s only a matter of a couple weeks before everybody converges on to the studio. And for that I’m pumped. And you guys are gonna be excited.”

Disturbed recently dropped a brand-new single, “I Will Not Break,” on Friday, February 21, 2025. The track, which references frontman David Draiman’s past struggles with suicidal thoughts, is their first release on their independent label, Mother Culture Records. It marks the band’s first new music since their 2022 album ‘Divisive’.

Tickets for the highly anticipated tour will go on sale on Friday, February 28, at 10 AM local time. Fans can expect to hear songs from ‘The Sickness’, followed by a powerhouse set of Disturbed’s biggest anthems. The iconic metal bland will be stopping in major cities around the UK:

Oct 20: Birmingham Utilita Arena, UK
Oct 22: Dublin 3Arena, Ireland
Oct 24: Manchester AO Arena, UK
Oct 26: London The O2, UK
Oct 28: Glasgow OVO Hydro, UK

With an explosive lineup, a historic album performance, and new music on the way, the 25th-anniversary tour of ‘The Sickness’ is shaping up to be an unmissable event for metal fans worldwide.

EARLY BIRD TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE NOW!

Grab your #BOA23 tickets now at https://t.co/6G0x8HDzkV pic.twitter.com/XTIwd6xc7i

— bloodstockfest (@BLOODSTOCKFEST) August 14, 2023

Architects continue to grow from strength to strength and after serving as the opening band for fellow metalcore heavy hitters Bring Me The Horizon at this summer’s Download Festival, the band now seemed poise to headline festivals in their own right. Bloodstock represents a major coup for the band, with the festival billed as one of the greatest platforms for heavy metal artists in Europe.

Bloodstock, set in Catton Park, Derbyshire just completed its 2023, three day event on Sunday to rave reviews. Particular praise was reserved for Killswitch Engage who, unbelievably, were headlining their first ever outdoor UK festival set. The Massachusetts metalcore pioneers made the most of their set, playing a staggering 21 song setlist that contained hit songs such as “My Curse,” “Rose Of Sharyn,” and the band’s cover of Dio’s “Holy Diver” to close out the performance and weekend.

This year’s festival was jam packed with some of the genre’s most successful and crowd-pleasing acts, with In Flames, Knocked Loose and the UK’s own Employed To Serve delivering supporting performances that will live long in the mind of many a metal festival goer. The weekend was rounded off with legendary acts, Meshuggah and Megadeth on the Saturday and Sunday respectively.

And for those that are already missing the three day event, organisers have moved quickly to whet the appetites of metal fans by announcing two headliners for next year’s festival. Amon Amarth, who have already headlined the festival in 2017, expressed their enthusiasm, saying, “England! We are excited to be returning to the Bloodstock hallowed grounds to do battle with you and the Saxon hordes. We look forward to fighting and feasting with you! See you soon.” 

Began in 2001, Bloodstock Open Air originally began as an indoor, single day’s event. By 2019, the festival boasted five stages and a capacity for 15,000 spectators outdoors in Catton Park. In addition to providing some of the biggest names in the scene to headline the main stages, Bloodstock also dedicates the New Blood stage to providing exposure to up and coming metal acts-many performing in front of large crowds for the first time.

2024’s Bloodstock Festival will take place on 8-11 August with further announcements on performing bands to follow in due course. Early Bird tickets can be purchased here.

The first single from the album is titled “Birth Womb” and if it is anything to go by, it sounds to be yet another interesting project from Embury. It is a very crushing song that mixes genres such as Black Metal and Hardcore. Says the band:“This song talks about sacrifice, betrayal of emotion and the process of feeling temporary defeat. But in experiencing these feelings, you realize that you can be a stronger person for the experience, the knowledge that maybe you are not unique and we are all dealing with our personal trials on a day-to-day basis.”

Watch the video below:

Embury has been the bassist for Napalm Death since 1987. The band does not contain any original members but he is the longest serving since he joined for the tour of their first album “Scum” replacing previous bassist Jim Whitely. He had been around the band before joining, being a frequenter of their concerts at The Mermaid pub in Birmingham and being friends with the then-members such as former drummer Mick Harris. He was asked to join to record the B-side of “Scum” but at the time did not feel confident enough to accept, which is something he has always regretted.

Before joining Napalm Death, he played in  several other bands who were on the same scene such as Warhammer, Unseen Terror and Azagoth. Ever since he joined Napalm, he has always been involved in side projects. As far back as the early 90’s he worked on projects such as Blood from the Soul, Meathook Seed and Malformed Earthborn. In addition, he has several other bands that he has been a part of for years such as Venomous Concept and Lock Up and was also at one time a member of Brujeria.

Prior to joining Megadeth Dirk Verbeuren was the drummer in Swedish metal band Soilwork. In addition to this he has recorded with other artists such as Devin Townshend, Messhugah, Satyricon, Jeff Loomis, Warrell Dane and Aborted. When not recording or performing he teaches drums. He and Embury also previously had a project called Bent Sea.

Russ Russell is a producer who has produced most of Napalm Death’s albums since the early 2000’s as well as several of Embury’s aforementioned side projects. He has also produced bands such as Dimmu Borgir, At the Gates, The Wildhearts, The Exploited, Evile, The Haunted, The Berzerker and The Rotted.

The album will feature two new members for the first time, replacing lead guitarist Chris Broderick and drummer Shawn Drover, who departed in 2014. Instead the album features new guitarist Kiko Loureiro, from the power-metal group Angra, and Lamb of God drummer Chris Adler, who recorded on ‘Dystopia’ but is not a permanent member of the band. The album will also be engineered by Lamb of God producer Josh Wilbur.

“There’s a lot of riffing going on in there, that’s for damn sure,” Dave Mustaine told Revolver when speaking about the new album earlier this year. “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.”

Mustaine also talked about the influence of having long term Megadeth fan Chris Adler on the album, as he recalled “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!’”

Megadeth debuted a new song from the album earlier this week, ‘Fatal Illusion’, which showcases those thrashing riffs and Adler’s drumming pedigree. You can listen to the song via Youtube below: