MEGADETH‘s music video for the band’s new song “I Don’t Care” can be seen below. The uncompromising metal titans teamed with director Keith J Leman for the clip, which mashes scenes of skate culture with dynamic band performance footage.
MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine says about the anthemic “I Don’t Care”: “How many times have you wanted to say this to someone? I know you want to! Deep down inside, if we had the balls, we would tell more people ‘I don’t care’ more often.”
Musically, Mustaine explains, “Part of the main riff in this track had been floating around in my head since we did [2022’s] ‘The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!’, so I was pumped to start recording ‘I Don’t Care’ for this LP. I really love the guitar nuances in the track. There is the main rhythm riff, next, a very deliberate down-picking part, next, the octave chords with jump picking on octave notes (while still down-picking!). And the soloing and back and forth between me and Teemu [Mäntysaari] is magnificent!!”
“I Don’t Care” is the second single from MEGADETH‘s upcoming self-titled album, due on January 23, 2026. The follow-up to “The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!” will be released via Mustaine‘s Tradecraft imprint on Frontiers Label Group‘s new BLKIIBLK label.
“Megadeth” track listing:
01. Tipping Point
02. I Don’t Care
03. Hey, God?!
04. Let There Be Shred
05. Puppet Parade
06. Another Bad Day
07. Made To Kill
08. Obey The Call
09. I Am War
10. The Last Note
11. Ride The Lightning (METALLICA song; bonus track)
MEGADETH played its previous single, “Tipping Point”, live for the first time on October 14 at Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam, The Netherlands during the band’s European tour as the support act for DISTURBED. In a short interview with the Instagram account of MEGADETH‘s mascot Vic Rattlehead, Mustaine stated: “I was a little nervous about playing it because we hadn’t played it live yet. And I always get a little nervous whenever we play a song for the first time. But it went off without a hitch and the fans really liked it.”
Mustaine continued: “I thought we were going to save it until we got to England [a week later], but we were so excited because of the fans, their approval of the song and how many people are really responding in a positive way for ‘Tipping Point’. So we just couldn’t wait anymore.”
Prior to launching into “Tipping Point” at the Amsterdam show, Mustaine told the crowd: “So, we have a new record coming out. And we have a new single that’s out right now. And we’re gonna play that song the first time ever right now.”
The sonically explosive and lyrically unflinching “Tipping Point” kicks off with a thunderous guitar solo before Dave‘s iconic voice hauntingly kicks in. In the desolate but hopeful accompanying video, directed by Leonardo Liberti, Dave is locked up in a prison being tortured in extreme fashion, while the band performs in the same lock-up. In the end Dave perseveres evil and walks away into a new day.
“We all have different ‘tipping points’ and they may vary from day to day,” Mustaine previously said about the track. “I think we’re all being pushed to the edge right now, and it’s easy to lean into that feeling. But it’s important not to let things get you down.”
On August 14, MEGADETH announced that its upcoming LP will be the band’s last. The Mustaine-led outfit will also embark on a farewell tour in 2026.
In a press release announcing MEGADETH‘s final album and farewell tour, Mustaine thanked fans for their commitment and love while celebrating the band’s impact on the music world.
“There’s so many musicians that have come to the end of their career, whether accidental or intentional,” Mustaine said. “Most of them don’t get to go out on their own terms on top, and that’s where I’m at in my life right now. I have traveled the world and have made millions upon millions of fans and the hardest part of all of this is saying goodbye to them.”
He continued. “We can’t wait for you to hear this album and see us on tour. If there was ever a perfect time for us to put out a new album, it’s now. If there was ever a perfect time to tour the world, it’s now. This is also a perfect time for us to tell you that it’s our last studio album. We’ve made a lot of friends over the years and I hope to see all of you on our global farewell tour.
“Don’t be mad, don’t be sad, be happy for us all, come celebrate with me these next few years. We have done something together that’s truly wonderful and will probably never happen again. We started a musical style, we started a revolution, we changed the guitar world and how it’s played, and we changed the world. The bands I played in have influenced the world. I love you all for it. Thank you for everything.”
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 2016’s “Dystopia”.
Guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari joined MEGADETH two years ago. He stepped in as the replacement for Brazilian-born guitarist Kiko Loureiro, who announced in September 2023 that he would sit out the next leg of MEGADETH‘s “Crush The World” tour in order to stay home with his children back in Finland. It was later revealed that the now-38-year-old Finnish musician would continue to play guitar for MEGADETH for the foreseeable future, with Loureiro seemingly having no plans to return.
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.
Released in September 2022, MEGADETH‘s latest album, “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).
Led by the growled vocals and razor-wire riffing of Mustaine, MEGADETH are one of the “Big Four” thrash titans. Shortly after being kicked out of METALLICA in 1983, Mustaine met bassist David Ellefson, and the pair bonded quickly, forming the core of MEGADETH. Drummer Gar Samuelson and guitarist Chris Poland later joined, and MEGADETH released their underground-hit debut “Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good!” in 1985. Its follow-up, “Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?”, solidified the band’s status with sprawling yet tightly wound songs like the uneasy opener “Wake Up Dead” and the fiery title track.
“So Far, So Good… So What!”, released in 1988, featured a new lineup as well as a thrashy cover of the SEX PISTOLS‘ “Anarchy In The U.K.” and the anti-PMRC broadside “Hook In Mouth”. In 1990 they released “Rust In Peace”, with Nick Menza on drums and technical wizard Marty Friedman on guitar; songs such as “Holy Wars… The Punishment Due” and “Hangar 18” blended pummeling riffs and suspicion-fueled lyrics with a stadium-rock ambition that matched the era’s metal-embracing tendencies.
“Countdown To Extinction”, released in 1992, and “Youthanasia”, released in 1994, continued the band’s dominance of metal and emergence in rock’s mainstream, with the latter album’s “À Tout Le Monde” being a rare thrash ballad. After a brief breakup in the early 2000s, MEGADETH returned as a de facto Mustaine solo project with 2004’s “The System Has Failed”. Ellefson rejoined in 2010 prior to the album “Th1rt3en” and remained in the MEGADETH lineup until 2021, when he was fired.
In addition to Mustaine and Mäntysaari, MEGADETH‘s current lineup includes drummer Dirk Verbeuren and bassist James LoMenzo.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source blabbermouth.net ’
