As posted on the official website:

Design a new Vic Rattlehead and win big in the 'MEGADETH DESIGN CONTEST' at deviantART.com!
Megadeth has commissioned deviantART to hold a contest to give Vic a facelift. Dave Mustaine will choose the winners and three ESP guitars will be given away as prizes.

Contest is open now and runs till Feb 14. Details HERE.

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Source:	deviantart.com and megadeth.com
Band profile:	Megadeth

"Yes, Megadeth is going to continue to play"
Dave Mustaine makes his announcement after a special version of "Coming Home" to the Argentinian crowd at the sold out show in Buenos Aires.
"I told you earlier tonight that I was gonna let all of you know first before the rest of the world what our decision was - whether or not we were gonna continue with Megadeth or not," Mustaine said before playing a special rendition of "Coming Home", with the song's lyrics changed from the original "I'm coming home to Arizona" to "I'm coming home to Argentina." Immediately after the song, Mustaine said "The answer is yes."
Megadeth will continue as a band. Megadeth will record a new album. Megadeth will continue to play.

Source:	megadeth.com
Band profile:	Megadeth

The band, consisting of Lance King on vocals (Pyramaze, Shining Star, ex-Balance Of Power, ex-Defyance, ex-Kings Machine, ex-Empire, ex-Gemini, ex-Mattson), Jonah Weingarten on keyboards (Pyramaze, Lilitu, ex-Infernal Method, ex-Shallow Grave) and Yan Leviathan on guitars, have David Ellefson as guest on their debut album "From The Depths of Time" the tracklist of the album is a follows:

1) Through The Past and Into Forever (Instrumental)
2) As The World Burns
3) Black Masquerade
4) The Fear
5) Final Frontier
6) Across The Millions (Instrumental)
7) Time And Space Part I: City of Peace
8) Single Blade of Vengeance
9) Two Sides Collide
10) Blinding Force
11) Time Is All We Need
12) Queen of the Insane
13) Last Moon (Instrumental)
14) The Depths of Time

A couple of song from their debut album can be found on their website.

Source:	roadrun.com
Band profile:	Megadeth

GMM 2005 : Press Release 6 - Wednesday 07 April 2005

GRASPOP METAL MEETING

Festivalpark, DESSEL - Friday 24, Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 June 2005

ALMOST THERE...

The line-up for the 10th edition of the Graspop Metal Meeting is almost complete.

Just eight slots remain to be filled.

Unfortunately there are also a few cancellations: CHIMAIRA and BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE won't be coming to Graspop this year.

The band offer their sincere apologies. They are part of the 'Sounds of the Underground' tour in America and as the starting date of this tour has been moved forward to 25 June, they had no choice but to cancel their Graspop gig.

SUICIDAL TENDENCIES also have to cancel. Singer Mike Muir has been having serious health problems and Suicidal are forced to postpone the entire summer tour. Get well soon Mike!

Good news from the MADBALL camp. They have come back on their decision to cancel and have reconfirmed their appearance at this year's festival.

MEGADETH is another name that's been circulating quite a bit and? we are finally able to add Megadeth to the bill. The band looked to be dead and buried in 2002 when Dave Mustaine suffered a severe arm injury, but three years later Megadeth are alive and kicking and the old sound is back.

SKITSOY, the band around former Channel Zero lead man Franky De Smet-Vandamme, will also be playing Graspop this year.

Have also been confirmed :TERROR, AMEN, PRO-PAIN DRAGON FORCE, GOREFEST, PETER PAN SPEEDROCK and SIRENIA

The provisional line-up for the three days of the festival is as follows (note that last-minute changes are still possible!!):

Friday 24 June :

ALTER BRIDGE - CALIBAN -ENSLAVED - GRAVE DIGGER - H20 - HELMET - IMMOLATION - KREATOR MADBALL - MEGADETH - METAL CHURCH - NEVERMORE - PAPA ROACH - SYSTEM OF A DOWN - WITHIN TEMPTATION

Saturday 25 June :

ACCEPT - AMON AMARTH - BEHEMOTH -GOREFEST - IN FLAMES - MASTODON - PETER PAN SPEEDROCK - PRO PAIN - ROSE TATTOO - SAMAEL - SICK OF IT ALL - SIRENIA - SKITSOY - SLAYER - SLIPKNOT - SOILWORK

Sunday 26 June :

AMEN - ARCH ENEMY - AXEL RUDI PELL - DARK TRANQUILLITY - DREAM THEATER - DIO -DRAGON FORCE - IRON MAIDEN - LACUNA COIL - MURPHY'S LAW - NUCLEAR ASSAULT - OCEANS OF SADNESS - PRIMAL FEAR - TERROR - YNGWIE MALMSTEEN

ADVANCE SALES

You can order your tickets to the Graspop Metal Meeting by phone, online and via the usual presales channels.

Order your ticket(s) as soon as possible to avoid unpleasant surprises.

You will find the exhaustive list on our website: www.graspop.be

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Be A Video Droogie!

Megadeth is shooting their new video for "Of Mice and Men" in Los Angeles on Thursday, January 20 and Dave Mustaine wants his Droogies in the Los Angeles area to be there! If you have what it takes, email OfMiceAndMenVideoContest@sanctuarygroup.com to win this once in a lifetime opportunity! The winners will have the exact details e-mailed to them on Tuesday, January 18. You must be 18 years or older to attend.

(taken from www.megadeth.com)

Band profile:

Megadeth

MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine has spoken to Canada's Chart Attack about the inclusion of a scene in METALLICA's "Some Kind of Monster" documentary in which METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich sits down with Mustaine for a one-on-one therapy session.

"Everyone says how the part with me is the most intense. Yeah, because I'm the only one who thinks Lars is a punk," Mustaine said. "Everyone else is afraid of him. He looks like a fuckin' Eminem wannabe right now. Anyone who watches that movie and doesn't realize that whoever comes into contact with Lars hates him? If you watch the movie closely, you see that Lars treats everyone so badly. They all end up in therapy! Even the counselor ended up in therapy!

"For years said I wasn't important to them; that I was a temporary guitar player or they never said anything about me," he continued. "But now all of a sudden I'm so important that they need me in their movie. Were you lying then or are you lying now? Why am I so important that I need to be in your stupid movie? And when I told them I didn't want it used ? I told the director I didn't approve of it ? and they went ahead and used it. Then Lars goes online and says he doesn't understand why I'm so pissed off. You didn't listen to me! Then when he catches wind that I'm getting sick of his crap he says, 'Aww, I just want to hug Dave. I'm sexually attracted to him.' What the hell happened to you?"

Mustaine also said that classic METALLICA songs such as "Jump In The Fire" and "The Four Horsemen" are his. Along with a number of others.

"Not only 'Kill 'Em All', but 'Ride The Lightning' title track, 'Call Of Kthulu', parts of 'Leper Messiah'... Listen to parts of 'Leper Messiah' and then 'Ride The Lighting'. It's that same spider chord. I invented that! How the hell can you not credit me for writing that?"

Mustaine has his own answer.

"James didn't want to give me credit because he's jealous of me. His whole frontman persona he copped from me. In the beginning of the band, he just sang and I did all the guitar work. When he was done singing, he'd walk away from the microphone and I had to walk up to the mic and talk. I'm like, 'What's wrong with this picture? I'm getting your beer tonight!' I think the most disappointing thing out of all of it is that when you look at all of the accomplishments they've made over the years, people are trying to make me invisible. My career's been successful; I've had a blast while I'm here but it would have been nice if METALLICA fans really knew what my contribution was instead of them saying there wasn't any.

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Band profile:

Megadeth

Bassist James MacDonough recently spoke to the Iced Earth fan site http://www.iced-realm.de/ about his departure from Iced Earth and his new gig as the bassist for Megadeth. Several extractions from the interview follow:

Iced-Realm.de: How did you get the gig with Megadeth?

James MacDonough: "I knew the album was recorded at the beginning of the year and the guy that did the bass tracks was a session player named Jimmy Sloas, I didn't know if he was going to do the tour or not and e-mailed Dave (Mustaine, Megadeth mainman) about the position. I got a response a couple of days later that started the communication going. He told me this could be a very good thing and would keep me on a short list. Dave McRobb, Megadeth's webmaster got the ball rolling and was feeling people out for both the guitarist and the bassist position. The next thing I knew I was on a conference call with Dave and Dave, he told what he planned and what he expected of the person that would fill those shoes. I quickly knew that I had formed two very good friendships and the ball kept rolling. I videotaped myself playing a couple of Megadeth tunes and within a couple of days got a call from Dave Mustaine saying that he wanted me for the position."

Iced-Realm.de: Were there any auditions? If so, how did they go down?

James MacDonough: "The audition was not only about being able to play the tunes but had alot to do with personality and chemistry with each other, and of course enthusiasm and sincerity."

Iced-Realm.de: Have there already been any rehearsals with Megadeth?

James MacDonough: "Not as of yet, I'll be going out to work with (Megadeth drummer) Nick Menza for a week then going to full rehearsals, the tour will start on October 26'th in San Diego."

Iced-Realm.de: How is working with Dave? He's known to have quite some ego, as does Jon (Schaffer, Iced Earth mainman). Do they have anything in common/what are the differences?

James MacDonough: "Dave has made me feel like a band member already, he's shown me a lot of personal and professional respect. I haven't experienced any ego whatsoever as many perceive from him. Dave's very straightforward, speaks his mind, knows what he wants, and expects the best that you can give, and sometimes that's misconstrued as arrogance. I call it professionalism. Sure, there's opinionated people out there , but when you ask for the opinion, well, you're going to get it. If you want to know the difference between the two, it's like apples and oranges, two totally different people. Both are professional but have different ways of dealing with people and friends. I have posted something on Megadeth.com. I have a forum there called 'The Deep End' that might answer additional questions on some of these topics."

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Band profile:

Megadeth

Iced Earth bassist James MacDonough has officially left the band to join Megadeth as their touring bassist. MacDonough's statement on the matter (as posted at Iced-Realm.de) is as follows:

"A while back I had heard that Megadeth might need a bassist, so I contacted them via email and much later got a response, to my suprise. Before I knew it, I was on a conference call with Dave . I sent in some video of me playing a couple Megadeth songs and I got a call a couple of days later. Everything with Iced Earth has been up in the air as far as touring, so I told Jon Schaffer about this when I got the first email back, and being my older bro, he told me to go for it. Unfortunately, I won't be able to play with Iced Earth in the future because this will be a very lengthy tour, but we'll see what happens down the road. I am keeping in touch with Jon and maybe something in the future will happen.

"MEGADETH has always been one of my favorite bands and I have a lot of respect for Dave and what he's done for music. I feel honored to have been picked for this endeavor."

MEGADETH's lineup for the upcoming tour will be as follows:

Dave Mustaine - Guitar/Vocals
Glen Drover (Eidolon, ex-King Diamond) - Guitar
Nick Menza - Drums
James MacDonough (ex-ced Earth) - Bass

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Band profile:

Iced Earth

MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine has posted the following message on the band's official web site:

"Here is what I have been saying in the interviews, what happened chronologically that caused the demise of the band, why Nick was fired, Marty quitting, records turning out the way they did, and finally me walking away.

"When 'Countdown To Extinction' came out, the band and I were ecstatic to have a number 2 record. But if you could believe this, also during that time there were a lot of the 'movie-type intervention group therapy meetings' with me in the middle of a session of what rapidly was referred to as a 'Dave Bashing' session.

"There were all of these complaints and trying to get me to stop using drugs, as well as comments about my leadership skills. I remember them all taking a test and grading me as well as numerous other shameful and painful exercises meant to crack me or break me down.

"Well, this really hurt all of us, mostly me. The members at these sessions were Nick, Marty, Junior, Ron Laffitte (manager), Raymond May (counselor), David White (counselor â?" and not Gadget, the guitar tech).

"Ultimately, it made me start to be very cautious of everything and we instituted a no-drinking, no-drug clause, that everyone would agree to, myself included. There would be random testing and so on, and this was because of Ron's friendship with AEROSMITH's manager and how this 'process had worked for them.'

"I allowed more input from not only management, and the band, but also the counselors and even Max Norman, who had gotten more permission in the next record which was called 'Youthanasia'.

"By the time 'Youth' was done, I had so much inner turmoil that I wanted to leave MEGADETH, but instead I asked to do a solo project. I had been writing songs for the next MEGADETH record after 'Youth' and because 'Countdown to Extinction' had come in at #2 and 'Youth' at #4, Capitol agreed to keep me happy.

"I set out to do a punk metal record with Lee Ving called MD.45, and they gave me $250,000 to do the project.

"As cool as this is for them to have admitted it, Capitol did not market MD.45 at all because it would have possibly interfered with their other priority, the successful band MEGADETH. However, the great people of EMI have allowed me to go back in and re-issue this record, which I am totally pumped about.

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Band profile:

Megadeth

MEGADETH have selected "Die Dead Enough" as the first single from their upcoming CD, "The System Has Failed", due on September 14 through Sanctuary Records. The single will go to metal radio around July 19 and rock radio approximately July 26.

"The System Has Failed" was recorded at Phase Four studios in Tempe, Arizona and is set to feature cover artwork by Ed Repka. Joining mainman Dave Mustaine on the recording are drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and bassist Jimmy Sloas. Additional lead guitar tracks were laid down by former MEGADETH guitarist Chris Poland.

"The System Has Failed" track listing:

01. Blackmail The Universe
02. Shadow Of Death
03. My Kingdom
04. Of Mice And Men
05. Truth Be Told
06. The Scorpion
07. Kick The Chair
08. Something That I'm Not
09. Tears In A Vial
10. Die Dead Enough
11. Back In The Day

The upcoming CD will be preceded by reissues by all seven of MEGADETH's studio albums recorded during the group's tenure with Capitol Records. Mustaine remixed, remastered and restored each album, all of which will feature previously unreleased tracks as well as demos and alternate mixes, and newly penned liner notes.

"The System Has Failed" will be MEGADETH's first since the announcement that Mustaine was disbanding the group following a serious accident in early 2002. At the time, it was unknown if severe nerve damage in his left arm would leave him able to perform again.

Band profile:

Megadeth

MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine has posted the following message in the "Forum" section of the band's official website (www.megadeth.com):

"Droogies! Thank you for the support yesterday, it helped a lot.
It is just that so much is happening right now that it is sometimes overwhelming.
I am grateful for the threads and emails, and I approved the master yesterday, so that means it is on its way to the record company.
I might as well tell you the title... The System Has Failed.
Because it has. MSGD!"

As previously reported, The System Has Failed will be released through Sanctuary Records on September 14th.

More details on the release as they become available.

Band profile:

Megadeth

A brand new MEGADETH song, entitled "Kick the Chair", has been posted at this location: http://www.megadeth.com/ktc/kickthechair.mp3

"Kick the Chair" comes off the group's as-yet-untitled new album, tentatively due in September through Sanctuary Records.

Commented MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine: "This is for the 95% of the people here who are my friends ? the people who, even if they don't agree, they are still decent. This is for the people here who set us apart from the rest of the net, all of the fan sites, chat rooms, and forums.

"This is for you, my fans ? because after this, there will be no more doubt who I am.

"This version of 'Kick The Chair' is a final mix, but is not the 'master' that will be on the new record.

"Please enjoy this and know that I love you all, even the assholes."

The complete track listing for the forthcoming MEGADETH CD is as follows:

01. Blackmail The Universe
02. Shadow Of Death
03. My Kingdom
04. Of Mice And Men
05. Truth Be Told
06. The Scorpion
07. Kick The Chair
08. Something That I'm Not
09. Tears In A Vial
10. Die Dead Enough
11. Back In The Day

Band profile:

Megadeth

MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine has revealed the track listing for the group's new CD, tentatively due later in the year through Sanctuary Records. It is as follows:

01. Blackmail The Universe
02. Shadow Of Death
03. My Kingdom
04. Of Mice And Men
05. Truth Be Told
06. The Scorpion
07. Kick The Chair
08. Something That I'm Not
09. Tears In A Vial
10. Die Dead Enough
11. Back In The Day

Mustaine has also posted the following message in the band's official forum:

"Droogies!

"Well, the day has come and I am packing it in.

"Yesterday was the last day in the studio, I finished the last solo and the last sentence of the last song, and the week before all of the remixes were done, so . . . it is time now to prepare all of the goofy administrative stuff that goes into an album.

"I was listening down to all of the songs until after 11:30 PM last night when I finally told Jeff Balding that I had to go. I had a meeting to be at, at 7:00 AM this morning, but as you can see I didn't make it because I got really ill again.

"The songs to me are fantastic. There is a lot going on, there are amazing solos by both 'Polie' and myself, loads of double bass, fast parts, slow parts, beautiful singing, Mustaine snarls, yelling, gang vocals, voice-overs, special effects, and layers of intricate sounds in the background that Jeff and I are deciding on what will help the song and what will not.

"For example, last night we were working for almost half an hour on whether or not to put the sound of a jail cell door clanging shut (kinda like in 'Captive Honour') in a song called 'Kick the Chair'. We ended up muting it for now, but it was a tough decision because there is a lot going on right there already (you'll see soon).

"This incredible amount of layering, I believe, will be 100% acceptable and expected when I start on my solo work, but for the MEGADETH music that we have all grown to love and enjoy, I have to be cautious.

"Don't want to get slagged here at my own boards now, do I?

"I am excited as hell to know that I am going to see the old guard today. Jeff Young got in last night, and Chuck Behler and Nick Menza come in today. I have told them all that I am not going to be there, because I wanted to surprise them, and pop in to see the looks on their faces after they hear what we all did to make them shine!

"I also just want to see them and tell them thanks and that I love them and I wouldn't be where I am today without what they did with me.

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Band profile:

Megadeth

Frontman Dave Mustaine of MEGADETH has checked in with an update to the band's official website:

"What's done is done.

Droogies!
Today I officially finished the last song of MEGADETH and am on to the MD.45 record.
The news is that excluding Risk which will only have two, every other record is going to have four bonus tracks. I enjoyed watching all of the ring pieces say that I was holding onto songs for later release for the money.

Boy don't you look stoopid now. Yes, you do.

There are Randy Burns mixes, Paul Lani mixes, RIP demos with Chris Poland, with Marty Friedman, and just with me as guitarist before I started interviewing anyone. There are Countdown and Youth demos, Cryptic demos, alternate mixes of Cryptic and Risk and then there are unreleased tracks. And I know none of you have these suckas!
One track that I know none of you have or have ever even heard was the track that MEGADETH did for the KISS - Kiss my Ass record. Well, you will.
I am honored to have performed for all of you, and I am very proud of what has been accomplished here in the last couple of months. I hope you know, this has never been done before where a person re-mixed his enitre catalogue for re-release in this short amount of time, AND it not sounding like ca-ca!

And let me close by sayng that the MD.45 record is hella kewl! I was worried about not being able to do justice to the vocal parts that Lee did, but I just remembered that I sang some of them to him when we were in the studio anyways, and I got over it.

I know Lee would rather I re-sang this record AND have our music get out to the masses, then it just remain in a vault somewhere, unheard of.
BTW - The surprise that I said I was working on hasn't been mentioned in this or any post made by me yet.

Now go get a tissue; you're dribblin'!

MSGD!"

Band profile:

Megadeth

MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine posted the following message in the group's official forum earlier today:

"Droogies!

"Well, the 'lil 'vaca' was good, although I couldn't stop thinking about what I had to do when I got back to the zone. It felt like a homecoming going back to the studio. All the team was there and 'TNP' is done.

" 'Peace Sells' was sent off for mastering yesterday, along with two bonus tracks and an additional track for later use in 2006 (I know, it seems like an eternity until then).

"Newsflash: While working on 'Risk' yesterday, I was very surprised and disappointed to see the album split open, guts and all and that Dann Huff had recorded over some of my parts. There were sounds on there that I know were not recorded while I was around. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

"I love 'Risk' and all of the music on it, I stand by it, and once I got over the fury yesterday, I got to work.

"The first song done is 'Breadline' and it is awesome now. I also looked for the lead solo that Marty put down, but Dann never kept it. And for those of you who were wondering about that whole saga, Dann and Bud Prager AND Mike Renault had made clear they wanted it redone. I just did what I was told to do.

"Although, now that I found out Dann redid my parts, I am surprised he didn't redo Marty's parts too. Shit, maybe he redid my part of redoing Marty's part.

"And to all this I say, 'WGAF?'

"It is going to be better, that's all I care about, but I had to give people something to chew on until the next, 'Where's so and so,' or 'Get back you know who,' or 'Dave vs. James vs. Rowan Atkinson vs. . .' thread appears. Jeez!

"And BTW, the reason I am not letting anyone know where I am at, i.e. the JITS slag on me is 1) the studio is not a great studio, 2) I don't have the time, money, or personnel to do this, and 3) I would not be able to avoid letting you all in and saying 'Hello.'

"Then of course you would have to kill them for getting to do what you all may want to do too.

"Anyway, the whole project is coming along great and Jeff Balding wants to come back out March 29th, but I am faced with a dilemma: do I finish the remixes or do I get back to work on the new record?

"For the record, some of you may be thinking, 'Wasn't Jeff in on the re-recording over Dave's tracks' bit since he was the engineer on those records? But I knew otherwise. I talked to him yesterday and we agreed he was caught in the middle of Bud Prager destroying MEGADETH and trying to turn the band into FOREIGNER or an alternative band.

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Band profile:

Megadeth