Megadeth released their final album this month, and among the track list was a cover of Metallica’s “Ride the Lightning”. Fans have been eager to hear Dave Mustaine and Co.’s take on the tune, and the thrash frontman says “everyone” is really liking it.
Mustaine sat down with Liquid Metal host Jose Mangin for a SiriusXM “Front Row” interview. In addition to discussing the band’s 17th and final studio album, Mustaine also spoke about his storied and complex history with Metallica. He also offered some insight into the cover track, which he actually has a writing credit on. The thrash legend says it was a bit of a last-minute decision while the band was recording.
According to Mustaine, the idea to cover the song came late in the album process and marked unfamiliar territory for Megadeth. “We were nearing the end of the record, and we’ve had cover songs by other people, but never a version of a song that I’d done before,” Mustaine said, per Metal Injection. He then added that this excludes “what happened with ‘Mechanix’ back in album number one.”
Megadeth’s management team was onboard with the idea and strongly encouraged Mustaine to go for it. After mulling it over, Mustaone agreed, but only if he could have creative control over making it his own. “You’ve got to do it as good as they do it or better,” he said. “So how do you do a song better than Metallica?”
To put their own stamp on the track, Mustaine said they focused on making it sound fresh. This included reinforcing the drum fills, increasing the speed a bit, and tinkering with the solos. Mustaine and Teemu Mäntysaari split the guitar duties, offering a hat-tip to the way Kirk Hammett approached the leads originally. “Kirk was doing it the way that I was originally doing it,” Mustaine offered.
Dave Mustaine is a co-writer on “Ride the lightning”
Next came the vocals. Noting that he and Metallica frontman James Hetfield “have two very unique voices,” Mustaine made sure to do what worked best for his voice. “I sang it a little bit more,” he explained. “I think James kind of had a more forceful delivery.”
It was certainly a big challenge, and one he’s clearly glad to have undertaken, so Mustaine has been happy to hear that fans are digging it. “So far, everybody that I’ve talked to really likes what we did,” he said, “A lot of people noticed that we sped it up or beefed up the drums and solos, and they like it.”
The post Dave Mustaine Says He’s Received a Lot of Positive Feedback About Megadeth’s Cover of Metallica’s ‘Ride the Lightning’ appeared first on VICE.
