By 2025, Teemu Mäntysaari is more than just the new guy in Megadeth — he’s the embodiment of how a deep-rooted love for music, a bit of chaos, and a whole lot of dedication can place a guitarist center stage with one of metal’s most iconic acts.
In a recently released 2024 interview with string maker D’Addario, the 38-year-old Finnish musician opened up about the journey that brought him to Megadeth, his eclectic musical roots, and the culture that shaped him. Mäntysaari’s story is less about instant fame and more about preparation meeting opportunity — even if that opportunity comes at the last minute.
“I was recruited on short notice. It all happened kind of fast,” he recalled. “First, it was kind of unclear if I’m gonna be needed or if I’m more kind of on standby. So I had learned the setlist, but it was not one hundred percent sure if I’m gonna be playing with the band or not. And then it was only like a week before the first tour when I got the visa in my hand, and it was a hundred percent that I’m gonna be there.”
When that moment arrived — September 6, 2023, in Albuquerque, New Mexico — there was no easing into the role. Mäntysaari was tossed into the deep end. “It was pretty unbelievable, surreal,” he said. “By that time, when the first show happened, everything had been moving along so fast that I didn’t really have time to sit back and think, really, what’s going on. I just tried to concentrate on learning the catalog as well as I could.”
But this wasn’t a case of being plucked from obscurity. Mäntysaari’s path to metal was paved from a young age, growing up in a country where headbanging isn’t fringe — it’s almost mainstream.
“Heavy metal was what inspired me to pick up the guitar — Iron Maiden, classics, Dio. Megadeth as well. Megadeth was one of the first bands that I heard when I was getting into metal.”
Finland’s rich and supportive metal culture helped, too.
“Finland has a really strong metal culture, so even smaller bands are doing really well in Finland, and even internationally, and have been doing so for a long time,” Mäntysaari explained.
“When I was getting into metal and growing up, Stratovarius, Children Of Bodom, Nightwish, Sonata Arctica, those guys were pretty well known in the late ’90s, Stratovarius having been one of the pioneers already in the ’80s. So it was really interesting to grow up in a small country and see that there’s all these bands that are making it abroad as well, ’cause it was kind of encouraging in a way as well that you can make it from a small country or a small city. It’s also kind of more accepted culture in Finland, almost mainstream. You hear a lot of metal on the radio all day, so that’s kind of nice.”
Still, his musical appetite goes far beyond distortion pedals and double kicks: “I kind of tried to go with diverse influences. I played a little bit in a punk band. Fusion guitarists are some of my favorites, like Greg Howe and Guthrie Govan, and Brett Garsed. I think I have a pretty strong blues foundation: Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Joe Bonamassa, Eric Gales. I love that stuff.”
Learning by ear, jamming along to 12-bar blues, even diving into jazz during his Finnish military service — all of these shaped the guitarist he’s become.
“In my early twenties, I got into jazz more. I was doing the mandatory military service in Finland — I was playing in the army — and it was more of a jazz background band. That kind of forced me to learn more about that world as well, which was a lot of fun. Classical music as well. A lot of movie scores, especially exotic stuff like Chinese and Japanese movie soundtracks. So I try to keep my ears and eyes open and learn from everybody.”
Mäntysaari’s evolution didn’t happen overnight. He picked up the guitar at age 12, and by 2004, he was a member of Wintersun, later joining Smackbound in 2015. His years of exploring different genres — from punk to fusion, blues to classical — speak volumes about the kind of versatility that eventually caught Megadeth’s attention.
