"In terms of pushing my playing and songwriting, and the re-acquaintance of David Ellefson and myself, and with Kiko being such an un-fucking-believable guitar player, I would have to pick Dystopia at this point. But now Dirk Verbeuren’s in the band, I’m really looking forward to what’s next. When we get into the rehearsal room, warming up for the shows, and we hear Dirk playing some blastbeats, I’m questioning what Megadeth is going to sound like when we make the next record and we have those skull-numbing beats going on, it’s gonna push my playing to otherworldly limits. I’m excited because I can do the fast metal stuff, but having the chops and musical depth that Kiko has and with Ellefson holding down the fort, I’m really looking forward to the next record. I started thinking about it the day we left the studio after making Dystopia. That’s just how I’m wired."

"I’ll just drop The Weeknd House of Balloons, which I call black Portishead. [Laughs] It’s like, ‘Who is this dude? This can’t be a real person, right?’ That echo just seems like it was recorded—or wasn’t recorded—in some black hole and it was a sound just coming out and it just sucked you in. I could listen to that album 200 million times over and it still sounds fresh every time. “To me, the lyrical content—I don’t know how much it means to him, as far as personally. But, I’m a guy that listens to David Bowie who was like, “Yo, your mom doesn’t know if you are a boy or a girl.” Just saying stuff—shocking, but I don’t know if it’s for shock’s sake. I’m sure he is not trying to do that. But it doesn’t sway me from the music. ‘Yeah, come over, I’ll get you real high and I’ll fuck you and maybe never call you again.’ To me, he is telling a story and we have all seen the movie Seven. That doesn’t mean he beat him and barbed-wired his ankle to a chair and his whole stomach explodes. But it’s fascinating"