OSLO, NORWAY – JUNE 28: Dave Mustaine from Megadeth performs on stage at the Tons of Rock festival on June 28, 2025 in Oslo, Norway. (Photo by Per Ole Hagen/Redferns)

Redferns

Thrash titans Megadeth have shared a 30-second teaser for the first single for their upcoming final studio album, The End Is Near. “Tipping Point” is slated to release Friday, October 3rd and it will be the band’s first new release since their 2022 LP, The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead! Based on the 30-second clip which doesn’t reveal much, “Tipping Point” sounds like a typical modern Megadeth track – a very low timbre and groaning Dave Mustaine can be heard overtop some sharp thrash riffs that eventually come to a halt.

Overall, it’s a pretty underwhelming clip and a bit of a head-scratcher for a 30-second teaser. Whatever the heavy build-up is near the end of the clip sounds intriguing, and hopefully it offers more substance than this odd passage the band chose to reveal. It is just a teaser of course, but this is also the first single for Megadeth’s final studio album, so expectations for this one are a bit higher than prior Megadeth releases.

Furthermore, this is the first album to feature the band’s new lead guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari, who replaced longtime guitarist Kiko Loureiro in 2023. Prior to joining Megadeth, Mäntysaari was a part of the melodic death metal outfit, Wintersun, who put out several releases under Nuclear Blast throughout the early 2000s and 2010s.

Megadeth have long stood out in the metal community for having one of the most inconsistent lineups out of all the iconic 80s thrash metal bands. Despite the band’s only consistent member being founder Dave Mustaine, part of Megadeth’s intrigue has been the variety of musical styles that each of its former and current members have brought to the table. The same can’t be said for other iconic thrash acts like Metallica or Slayer, who, for the most part, have maintained the same lineups.

Bottom Line

There’s a lot riding on this final 17th studio album for Megadeth. The band’s last two albums were quite mixed among the fanbase, but this upcoming record will be the first to feature the band’s new guitarist, Teemu Mäntysaari. It’ll be interesting to hear how the band sounds on their upcoming single “Tipping Point,” which is slated to drop October 3rd. Maybe they can still win over fans who claim that 80s and early 90s Megadeth was peak.