Alongside Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax, Megadeth are one of heavy metal’s big four. The band, founded in 1983 by the guitarist and vocalist Dave Mustaine after his acrimonious departure from Metallica, remain a huge draw in Ireland. When they appeared as a support act for Disturbed in Dublin in October 2025, the Megadeth merchandise sold out even faster than Mustaine plays the closing guitar solo of Mechanix.
Driven by a desire to push speed, precision and epic headbanging, Mustaine has built Megadeth into the defining force of thrash metal. The band’s 1985 debut, Killing Is My Business ... and Business Is Good! kick-started a career that has spanned more than 40 years, 17 studio albums and 13 Grammy nominations.
Their early classics Peace Sells ... But Who’s Buying? and Rust in Peace entrenched the band’s fierce technical excellence, their barbed political lyrics and Mustaine’s distinctive snarl.
Despite many line-up changes and a brief hiatus in the early 2000s, Mustaine remains the band’s beating heart. Since overcoming throat cancer in 2019, he has returned to the fray with a renewed perspective on legacy and timing.
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Ahead of the release of Megadeth’s final album and farewell tour, Mustaine, now 64, is in a contemplative if occasionally irascible mood in Behind the Mask, a “listening party” directed by Casey Tebo. “I’m not the kind of guy who can’t forgive,” he says. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not pissed off.”
Fans will hang on his wide-ranging anecdotes about songwriting, the loss of his teeth after cancer therapy, being the sole musician to thank Jesus at the Grammys, the terrible call informing him of the death of his former bandmate Cliff Burton, and the tragic loss of his mother-in-law, who had Alzheimer’s disease, and whose body was found almost two months after she went missing, in 2014.
There are squabbles over authorship and money, including a request from drummer Nick Menza to sell his oil paintings during a tour (sample price: $100,000). There are also reconciliations. Mustaine’s final bow poignantly features a rerecording of the Metallica track Ride the Lightning as a gesture to that band and its singer, James Hetfield.
As ever, Mustaine is unmistakably himself. The tunes are good, too. Godspeed, Megadeth.
Megadeth: Behind the Mask is in cinemas from Thursday, January 22nd
