THE BEAST

In a jaw-dropping revelation that has the metal community buzzing, former MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson claims Dave Mustaine wanted to re-record songs from METALLICA’s iconic 1982 demo No Life 'Til Leather — instead of focusing on new music for MEGADETH’s sixteenth studio album.

Ellefson made the shocking disclosure on the latest episode of The David Ellefson Show, offering a brutally honest look at what he calls a “terrible process” behind the making of The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!

“He came in and said he wanted to re-record No Life 'Til Leather,” Ellefson recalled. “I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ After all this time? We’re supposed to be writing new MEGADETH songs — not reliving METALLICA’s past!”

According to Ellefson, this bizarre pivot was one of the first signs that tensions between him and Mustaine were reaching a breaking point.

“I just couldn’t kiss the ring for that one,” he said. “That’s when things really started to go downhill.”

The interview sheds new light on the turbulent final years of Ellefson’s second stint with MEGADETH. While he laid down bass tracks for the album in 2020, Mustaine later removed all of Ellefson’s parts, replacing them with contributions from TESTAMENT’s Steve DiGiorgio. Ellefson was officially fired from the band in May 2021 following a personal scandal, and James LoMenzo was later reinstated as a permanent bassist.

Ellefson’s disdain for the album is clear:

“It was spiteful, it was vengeful, and it was hateful,” he said. “Every riff I added, every lyric I wrote — gone. I haven’t even listened to the album since it came out.”

The re-recording idea may have been tied to Mustaine’s long-standing bitterness over songwriting credit disputes with METALLICA’s Lars Ulrich. In the past, Mustaine has refused to sign off on a reissue of No Life 'Til Leather due to disagreements over publishing rights, insisting that only he and James Hetfield wrote the songs.

Whether or not the No Life 'Til Leather re-recording would have ever seen the light of day, the revelation offers a rare glimpse into the chaotic dynamics behind one of metal’s most legendary — and volatile — partnerships.

As Ellefson puts it:

“Bands are what bands are, and it is what it is.”

One thing’s for sure: this story isn’t over — and fans of both MEGADETH and METALLICA will be talking about this for a long time.