And he reports that although he talked with some big-name sticksmen following the departure of Shawn Drover last year, he didn't want to go for a predictable choice.

Mustaine tells Rolling Stone: "Our hopes were to have a permanent drummer but the option to do a record with Chris was really exciting to me. We've looked at a lot of people. I talked with my friend Mike Portnoy, who I think is an amazing talent, and I talked to Dave Lombardo. Mike Mangini's name has come up.