According to MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine, the band's new lead guitarist, Kiko Loureiro, has finished laying down all the acoustic guitar parts for the group's fifteenth album. Mustaine added in a tweet: "[Kiko is] definitely the best guitarist we've ever had."

Mustaine's latest comments echo those he made about MEGADETH's previous guitarist, Chris Broderick, during the latter's tenure in the band. In a tweet made almost exactly two years ago (March 7, 2013) during the making of MEGADETH's "Super Collider" album, Mustaine wrote: "Chris has finished 'Super Collider' ... All I can say is he is without a doubt the best guitarist I've ever played with."

Back in 2009, Mustaine praised Broderick, saying in an online post: "I am going on record and I am saying unequivocally that Chris is THE BEST GUITARIST MEGADETH has ever had. And the real talented musicians in MEGADETH's alumni will agree, he is an absolute monster. I mean, he plays the catalog better than anyone did. Jeff Young never wanted to do Chris Poland's stuff, and so on, and so on, until the last guitarist we had before we disbanded over my arm injury."

Mustaine added: "It's funny, because just when I think [Broderick] can get no more outrageous, or any more thrilling with the guitar solos, he comes up with something really beautiful like Marty Friedman would do (he has Marty pretty well down pat), and then goes into the GIT styles that Jeff Young did, yet, there is still such a freshness to his playing and he is so raw, it's like having a new prize bull. And even though he ain't a such a young bull, he's definitely an old bull like me."

MEGADETH's new album is being recorded at Lattitude Studio South in Leiper's Fork, Tennessee for a tentative late 2015 release.

MEGADETH announced on April 2 that Loureiro had joined the Dave Mustaine-led group as the replacement for Broderick. Mustaine said in a statement: "I first met Kiko around eight years ago for a cover shoot for Burrn! magazine. I had no idea who he was, other than the fact he was tremendously talented and that the staff from Burrn! held him in high regard. Since then, I've come to see what a guitar virtuoso he is, and I'm deeply encouraged by his depth and talent."

He continued: "Very few MEGADETH alumni have had the same feel and ability as Kiko."

In addition to Mustaine, Loureiro and bassist David Ellefson, the recording lineup for MEGADETH's forthcoming album includes LAMB OF GOD drummer Chris Adler.