MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine had issued the following update via the Megadeth Forums:

"Droogies!

Whilst being burried under the workload of this last session with Andy Sneap on the new album, I can't help but enjoy the countryside out here in Derbyshire, England. I am working on finishing by Thursday (fingers crossed), and will return to the States to start unwinding, in order to just wind back up again for the US run which is going to be super selective cities, venues, and with the perfect support groups.

Gigantour NA will go out in January of 2008, as we are going to be spending most of 2007 trying to get into some of the countries that we have not been in for a while. Of course this means scaling things down so we can revisit, or in the case of South Africa (which I yearn to play), visiting for the first time; and places like Serbia, or Romania again, now that we have made our first impression there. I still hope to find my cell phone in Serbia; I certainly can't have the posuers in my cell phone being revealed and crank-called. Well, there are two idiots that I guess I would enjoy getting cranked, but whatev!!!

So, here are the new song titles that I know you know: 'Gears Of War', 'Washington Is Next', 'United Abominations'.

And here are some other titles: 'Amerikhastan', 'Blessed Are The Dead', 'Never Walk Alone' and... We finally covered a Led Zeppelin song - 'Out On The Tiles'.

There you have it. Half of the titles (I may change the rest) are here for you to speculate what I have in store to surprise you with. There are 11 songs for the US, an additional song for Japan, and two extra songs for later use as "b-sides".

Lastly, (guitarist) Glen (Drover) said that there were "at least ten million solos on this record" which makes us both very happy! So much so, that the nail on my right-hand middle finger just split right down the middle, and I nearly glued my fingers together trying to stop the blood from gushing from my "flipper".

I am off to sing the last song that I wrote for this record called 'Never Walk Alone' which is a promise to you. We wish you were all here and it is possible that Andy may allow a few fan club members over to the studio, that can attend a brief listening (in underwear so there are no more leaks, like the loser UK journo that leaked my last record as "a favor" to me).

I will let you know if it is possible, as it will have to be this Wednesday, before we leave for our homes back in North America this Thursday. I will find out how many people are available to come; how many people Andy will allow here; and then I will hand choose the members randomly. Stay tuned you UK fan club members!!! Confirm with our beloved webmaster if you can attend and we will notify you if you have been picked.

PS - you can bring cameras and stuff to sign, but any recorders will result in my kicking yer ass.

Love and Bruises!!!

MSGD!"