Megadeth bassist David Ellefson was asked by Kevin Tall about bands that “really get you going and excite you these days,” to which he replied:
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“I love this younger band, Hatchet. We’re putting their record out [through Combat Records], it’s great.
“We launched it with two former Combat artists, with Raven and also Helstar, who were both previously on Combat, the previous version of the label, years back. So that’s cool.
“We wanted to launch it with some iconic Combat artists and then start to bring in new talent. Marc Rizzo from Soulfly [formerly Ill Nino], he’s got a solo record on Combat. So now it’s about carving the next frontier of legacy artists on Combat.
“Ghost. I just like when a new band comes along and I get excited about it. They’ve got a new sound, they’ve got a mystique, and there’s something that gets me excited.
“Their [2015] ‘Meliora‘ record, I loved when I heard it. I was a little late to the party with them, they were already a big sensation and won a Grammy.
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“I actually just happened to hear their record one night. I was with the drummer for a band called Green Death, which is on my label. I’d gone to participate in an album release concert with them in Des Moines – it was 3 in the morning and he’s taking me to the airport.
“He picked me up at the hotel and I’m listening, I looked down at his stereo and it just sounded really haunting and cool at 3 AM. It could have been as much to do with the time of day that I heard it. I started seeing them at festivals and I watched them.”