ICED EARTH bassist James MacDonough has left the band in order to join the touring line-up of MEGADETH. Here is what MacDonough had to say in a posting to the ICED EARTH fansite, www.iced-realm.de:

“A while back I had heard that MEGADETH might need a bassist, so I contacted them via email and much later got a response, to my suprise. Before I knew it, I was on a conference call with Dave [Mustaine]. I sent in some video of me playing a couple MEGADETH songs and I got a call a couple of days later. Everything with ICED EARTH has been up in the air as far as touring, so I told Jon [Schaffer] about this when I got the first email back, and being my older bro, he told me to go for it. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to play with ICED EARTH in the future because this will be a very lengthy tour, but we’ll see what happens down the road. I am keeping in touch with Jon and maybe something in the future will happen.

“MEGADETH has always been one of my favorite bands and I have a lot of respect for Dave and what he’s done for music. I feel honored to have been picked for this endeavor.”

The newly revamped MEGADETH touring line-up consists of Dave Mustaine (vocals, guitar), Glen Drover (guitar), and Nick Menza (drums).

In related news, VH1 has posted the new MEGADETH album, The System Has Failed, online. The album can be heard in its entirety here.