The Latest Breaking News from Chris Poland

“William Shatner is a force of nature. When I heard his spoken word back at the studio, he was speaking in perfect 3/4 time”: Chris Poland on writing to Captain Kirk’s voice and Nuclear Messiah’s Megadeth alumni club

Boasting 36 star players, Chris Poland’s debut fusion album as Nuclear Messiah has the songs to match the payroll

Guitar World · Aug 7

“To all intents and purposes, it was a disaster. I wanted to kick my habit, I didn’t want to kick it.” A wasted singer, a bizarre producer and a real-life Sex Pistol: how Megadeth made thrash metal’s most chaotic album

Megadeth were strung out and at war with each other when they made their third album So Far, So Good… So What!. And things were about to get worse…

Metal Hammer · Jul 26

“It made me want to go all the way in, bring in the best metal players I could find, and create something fearless”: Zakk Wylde gifted William Shatner a guitar. Now Shatner is making an album with 35 metal icons – and an AI-generated Les Paul, apparently

The cast of players is yet to be announced – there is no title either – but Shatner says the whole thing was inspired by a guest turn on a Nuclear Messiah record with Chris Poland

Guitar World · Feb 20

“My hand got totally trashed. I looked down and could see the bone of my pointer finger. I lost the ability to bend it”: An accident defined Chris Poland’s playing, but it didn’t stop him handling the high demands of Megadeth’s debut

Chris Poland offers an eye-witness account of a seminal moment in metal history, when Dave Mustaine channeled his fury through his Marshall and debuted with a thrash classic

Guitar World · May 22, 2025

“That’s why things were so hard for me to try and get deals”: Former Megadeth guitarist says Dave Mustaine damaged his career by calling him a “liar”

Chris Poland, who performed on Megadeth’s first two albums, likens being the subject of Mustaine’s ire to dragging around a “50-pound ball”

Metal Hammer · May 21, 2025

“My hand hit the glass and it broke. It got totally trashed. I can’t feel my pinky from nerve damage”: The freak injury that changed the way Chris Poland played guitar – and ended up informing the sound of Megadeth’s Rattlehead

The former Megadeth guitarist had a stand-off with a 200lb oak door, resulting in an injury that would forever change how he plays guitar

Guitar World · Apr 17, 2025

“Trying to emulate these different players was a challenge. Chris Poland to Marty Friedman is like night and day. But that’s what excites me”: Glen Drover grew up idolizing Megadeth and King Diamond’s guitar heroes –then he had to step into their shoes

Inspired by Yngwie Malmsteen but weaned on Black Sabbath, the Canadian guitarist discusses the new gear and new skills he’s racking up as his own band Withering Scorn takes flight

Guitar World · Dec 5, 2024

“There is potential here for the world’s most unlikely mash-up”: It’s Steely Dan versus Megadeth in the Battle of Black Friday!

Both have songs called Black Friday - so which one to choose?

MusicRadar · Nov 29, 2024

“We had a living, breathing Sex Pistol come in and play on it. He wanted $100 and some ‘suction’”: The insane story of Megadeth’s So Far, So Good… So What!, thrash metal’s most self-destructive album

Megadeth’s first two albums were thrash classics. And then they made So Far, So Good… So What! and the debauchery caught up with them

Metal Hammer · Oct 26, 2024

"There’s a sadness to that album." How addiction, thrash royalty and the long tail of 9/11 oversaw Lamb Of God's career-defining Ashes Of The Wake

Twenty years old this year, Ashes Of The Wake remains a classic of 21st century metal

Metal Hammer · Aug 29, 2024