Megadeth parted ways with founding bassist David Ellefson after allegations that he was grooming an underaged girl online emerged. In their statement about the firing, they also said, "we cannot wait to share our brand new music with the world. It is almost complete." On his Gimme Radio show, Dave Mustaine talked a bit more about that new music, and Ellefson's role in it. He didn't give a release date for the album, but he did say that Ellefson's bass parts on it would be replaced.
"I just wanna thank you for all the kinds words and support as we get ready for this next tour and continue to hunt for a new bass player," Mustaine said. "We are making progress. The record’s being completed, and we’re gonna have someone coming in in a couple of weeks to replace the bass tracks that we had. Which should be relatively quick because the person we’re talking to is a stellar bass player. And hopefully this will be an ongoing thing after the recording. Or we will find someone prior to the recording that will be our permanent guy going forward."