MEGADETH has entered a studio in Franklin, Tennessee to begin pre-production for its follow-up to 2016's "Dystopia" album.

Earlier today, the band tweeted a series of photos from the studio, along with the following caption: "It begins #megadeth16"

MEGADETH's sessions for the new disc are being co-produced by Chris Rakestraw, who previously worked on "Dystopia".

In a recent interview with the Detroit radio station WRIF, MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine was asked if the band's songwriting process has changed since winning a Grammy for "Dystopia" or if it's "full steam ahead as usual." Mustaine responded: "Well, I'd like to think it's full steam ahead as usual, but, to be honest, in the back of my mind, I keep saying, 'As long as it's as good as 'Dystopia', we're gonna be safe.' So that's the bar. And the problem is that's a pretty high bar."

At the time of the WRIF chat in March, Mustaine said that he had eight songs written for MEGADETH's next disc, and he expressed hope that the other members of the band would contribute as well. "I'm hoping to get a lot of music from different players, because they all have something great to offer," he said. "When it's all said and done, we've turned the songs in to management, and all of us have taken a look at the tracks, and we usually all decide what songs are the best songs to be on there."

MEGADETH's next LP will be the first to feature drummmer Dirk Verbeuren (ex-SOILWORK), who joined the band nearly three years ago.

"Dystopia" was MEGADETH's first album with guitarist Kiko Loureiro, who was previously best known for his work with the Brazilian metal band ANGRA.

In March, MEGADETH released a a 35-track career retrospective called "Warheads On Foreheads". The anthology spans the band's entire studio recording career, from its first album, "Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good", to "Dystopia".

MEGADETH landed its first-ever Grammy back in 2017 when the band took home the trophy for "Best Metal Performance" for the title track of "Dystopia".

MEGADETH's "Dystopia" nod marked the band's twelfth Grammy nomination in the "Metal" category (including nominations in the discontinued "Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance" category).