A picture of Dave Mustaine has emerged in which he poses with a fan at the parking lot.

Kiko Loureiro recently reflected on how his time in Megadeth influenced his own songwriting, noting how it can be found “in the way I create songs” but adding that he still has “fun discovering things.”

It has been over a year since Kiko Loureiro left Megadeth, marking the end of one era for the iconic metal band and the beginning of another. Loureiro has emphasized multiple times that his relationship with Dave Mustaine and the rest of the band was excellent. However, he made the difficult decision to leave after realizing that missing too many important moments in his children’s lives was taking a toll on him.

He has stepped away from the spotlight of playing alongside one of the biggest thrash metal legends, the Brazilian guitarist seems content with his less hectic professional life, where he can focus on his solo career and teaching platform.

With a new studio album titled “Theory of Mind” out now, Loureiro describes it to Guitar World in a new interview as “an intersection of instrumental metal and prog”, and somewhat of a departure from the music he wrote for Megadeth. Asked whether writing music with Dave Mustaine affected his creative process, Loureiro offered:

“I tried to take some influence from Megadeth during my songwriting process. I’m trying to write more direct riffs, which I think is the influence. I tend to be more of an improviser. It’s always about how you feel – my visions and the images that come will lead to one thing and then another. If I get stuck, I’ll come back next week to see if you have new visions.”

“With Megadeth, of course, you think about the riff and that’s it. You don’t try to develop a second idea from that riff. You record the riff and that’s it. Dave has those riffs and he connects them. Once you believe all the riffs are amazing, it doesn’t matter how you connect them because everything is great. All the thrash metal bands from that period follow that rule, I guess.”

He added:

“I was always jamming, saying, ‘Let’s keep playing and see what’s gonna happen.’ That wastes time when the Megadeth way is like a factory. You create great products and make an amazing bundle. I tried to be a little bit more like that. The Megadeth influence is in the way I create songs, but I still have fun discovering things.”