Former MEGADETH / CACOPHANY guitarist Marty Friedman is featured in a new interview with Metal Assault. An excerpt from the chat is available below:

Metal Assault: Musicians in metal bands mostly stay away from the mainstream styles of music, but you’re an exception to that, as you are getting to experience the mainstream in Japan. When that first happened, did it change your perception about music and make you relatively open-minded as compared to the average metal guitarist?

Friedman: "If I’m anything at all, I’m open minded, even to a fault, if that is possible. Sometimes in the metal world, people pride themselves on being underground, I get it, and that’s fine, but I’m not like that at all, and I don’t care about any movement. My goal is to make music I love, as best as I can, and to have as many people enjoy it as possible."

Metal Assault: You’ve always been an improviser on the guitar. In recent years, have you incorporated any newer elements into your guitar playing that we might not have heard in the music you did with Cacophony, Megadeth or your earlier bands?

Friedman: "Oh, absolutely, my playing changes constantly and with every single thing I do. My subconscious goal, with anything that I plan to release, has always been to never repeat myself, ever. I’m sure I can’t achieve that 100% of the time, but that concept is a big part of my playing, so naturally my newer stuff will have evolved considerably since when I was in those bands."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

As previously reported, three recent albums by Friedman – whose groundbreaking work with Megadeth and Cacophany continues to receive international acclaim to this day – will receive North American releases by Prosthetic Records on August 14th.

Two of the titles – 2010's Bad D.N.A. and 2008's Future Addict – have until this year only been available in Japan, where Friedman now lives, while 2006's acclaimed Loudspeaker, originally released Stateside by Shrapnel Records, will be made available domestically once again. You can head over to the Prosthetic store now to pre-order a bundle consisting of all three titles.

Friedman rose to prominence when he co-founded the revolutionary guitar band Cacophony with his friend Jason Becker. From there, he joined metal legends Megadeth in 1990, who would soon go on to write and record the thrash metal classic Rust In Peace. Throughout his decade-long stint with the iconic group, during which the band sold 10 million albums worldwide, aside from lending his unmistakable "exotic" sound to the band, Friedman co-wrote the music to several notable songs, including the title track to the multi-platinum Countdown To Extinction, Youthanasia's fierce opening statement 'Reckoning Day' and Cryptic Writings' haunting 'Trust'.

During his tenures with Megadeth and Cacophony, Friedman recorded four solo albums for the seminal guitar label Shrapnel Records. He continued making solo albums after he left Megadeth in 2000, releasing seven – including Music For Speeding, which was released in the US by STEVE VAI's Favored Nations in 2003 and supported by an American tour alongside Chris Poland and Alex Skolnick – over the past decade alone. Until now, most of those releases have been unavailable outside of Japan, where Friedman moved in 2003.

In Japan, Friedman became an enigma of sorts: Armed with a fluency in the Japanese language, he left a platinum-selling American band to start from nearly zero to pursue his longtime dream of becoming a unique part of the Japanese domestic music world. That mission was accomplished, for between his solo releases and works with Japanese musicians, Friedman has performed at the largest venues in Asia, including three shows at Budokan, and played on and wrote several Japanese Top 10 hits, including a #1 single in 2011 and a #3 single in 2012.

At the same time, Friedman also became a popular Japanese television personality who not only hosted several programs, but was even featured in national ad campaigns for Fanta and Sumitomo Bank. He estimates he has made well over 400 network TV appearances in Japan, including three televised sold-out solo performances with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.

Although Friedman has focused on his Japanese music career for the past several years, he has recently remained active in the international metal scene by guesting on albums by the likes of JEFF LOOMIS, SKYHARBOR and FIREWIND; by voicing the character of Mr. Gojira on Cartoon Network's Metalocalypse; and through periodic tours outside of Japan, including a 22-country European trek with his solo band last year. Prosthetic is proud to further reintroduce North American audiences to Friedman – who some say is the best lead guitarist in the history of thrash metal – via his eclectic recent solo releases.

Loudspeaker tracklisting:

'Elixir' ^

'Street Demon'

'Black Orchid' *

'Paradise Express' ^

'Sekai Ni Hitotsudake No Hana'

'Glycerine Flesh'

'Stigmata Addiction'

'Viper' #

'Static Rain' (instrumental)

'Coloreas Mi Vida'

'Devil Take Tomorrow'

* feat. John Petrucci

# feat. Steve Vai

^ feat. Billy Sheehan

Future Addict tracklisting:

'Barbie'

'Simple Mystery'

'Tornado Of Souls' ^

'Burn The Ground' +

'Where My Fortune Lies' ^

'Breadline'

'The Pit And The Pendulum' ^

'The Killing Road'

'Static Rain'

'Secret Of The Stars'

'Massive'

'Tears Of An Angel'

^ feat. Billy Sheehan

+ feat. Jeff Loomis

Bad D.N.A. tracklisting:

'Specimen'

'Bad D.N.A.'

'Weapons of Ecstasy'

'Hatejoke'

'Glorious Accident'

'Random Star'

'Picture'

'Battle Scars'

'School Spirit Delinquent'

'Exorcism Parade'

'Time To Say Goodbye'