Dave Mustaine said he was ignoring a clause in his record contract that required him to write eight songs for Megadeth’s 16th album, and that he always had because it felt like “cheating.”

The follow-up to the band's 2016 LP Dystopia is currently taking shape, with no title or release date revealed so far. However, he did reveal that the project was proceeding well.

“Whenever I’ve been home, I’ve been working on new music from 10 in morning to seven at night,” Mustaine told Music Radar in a recent interview. “My co-producer Chris Rakestraw from the Dystopia team has been helping with pre-production on songs. I have about eight songs, and there’s one which is just unanimously everyone’s favorite, which is great. … I’m not saying there’s only one good song so far, though!”

He added that Megadeth are "going to do 12 or 13 tracks this time. My contract says I’m only supposed to do eight songs a record, and I just can’t do that – it feels like cheating. When I grew up listening to vinyl, it was a lot easier to buy a record and be happy with 45 minutes of music. When the digital world came, the paradigm changed – a musical offering needs a lot more. People aren’t satisfied and hit fast-forward a lot.”

Mustaine also discussed Megadeth’s long history, including moments when he found himself out of favor in the media. “But that didn’t change my dedication to my fan base,” he insisted. “I can take a breating. … I know they’re just words. ... When people say bad stuff about my playing, it’s a bit of a joke to me. I suck at a lot of things … but I definitely don’t suck at guitar.”

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