MEGADETH frontman Dave Mustaine has predicted real-life events in his songwriting.

The band is back with a new album called ‘The Sick, the Dying ... and the Dead!', and Dave explained that the title track was written before the COVID-19 outbreak and is actually about the bubonic plague, which blighted Europe during the Middle Ages.

He told Metal Hammer magazine: “Yeah it was written before (COVID-19) … But I think if anyone wants to take the p*** about me being Nostradamus, there are plenty of other songs … But this one was inspired by another virus, the plague … After the song was written, I knew people would think it was about COVID.”

Another song on the album also seemingly foretold events before they happened, as he wrote ‘Dogs of Chernobyl’ about Ukraine prior to the Russian invasion of the country.

Dave was asked whether he “saw the war in Ukraine coming” and he insisted the track has nothing to do with what has happened in recent months.

Speaking about the track, he explained: “Believe it or not, it’s a love song.”

The music star added that the record was inspired by a movie he watched about the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986.

The rocker also revealed he used several passages in the song which were written by the radiologist who treated him for throat cancer.

He shared: "I said to him that I needed a couple of phrases and some information about the radiation poisoning when everyone got sick at Chernobyl, so he wrote this masterful piece for me and I used it in full."