MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson spoke to Ireland's Overdrive about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the follow-up to the band's 2016 album "Dystopia". He said: "We've been working on new material for almost this whole year. The one thing that we learned from 'Dystopia' is that we need to allocate time that's right for us when laying down a new album. 'Th1rt3en' [2011] was right in the middle of the 'Big Four' tour and that was a solid album which we had 10 weeks to do, but then we had 'Super Collider' [2013], which, a lot like 'Risk', in the sense of we went straight into the studio off the back of 'Th1rt3en' with no break, and I think personally it was too soon, but there was nothing we could do, as management had tour dates booked, so we kind of backed ourselves into a corner, and while that worked for us on 'Th1rt3en', it really caught us off guard on 'Super Collider'. "Looking back, the first single off 'Super Collider' [the title track] was too light and I really think we should have come out of the gate with a heavier song choice," he continued. "Once fans hear a lighter track, they become prejudiced towards the whole record and the mindset is almost set in stone from that moment onwards, kind of like a first-impressions-last-forever-type scenario. "There were some great songs on that album but what we learnt about 'Dystopia' was that we had to take some time off to really give it 100 percent and do things the way we want to do them, so no tours booked, no other commitments, just a total undisturbed focus on the task at hand," Ellefson added. "Taking this approach really proved to be very successful for us and we will be working to this format going forward." MEGADETH's upcoming effort will mark the group's first release to feature drummer Dirk Verbeuren, who officially joined the band more than two years ago. "Dystopia" was MEGADETH's first album with guitarist Kiko Loureiro, who was previously best known for his work with ANGRA. In 2018, MEGADETH is celebrating its 35th anniversary all year long, with special releases, exclusive merchandise items, and one-of-a-kind events and opportunities for fans worldwide.
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