Former MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson and acclaimed metal vocalist Jeff Scott Soto have once again joined forces and are set to release their second album, “Unbreakable”, on August 15 via Rat Pak Records. The duo ELLEFSON-SOTO is joined by Italian guitarist Andy Martongelli and Paolo Caridi on drums and features 11 studio tracks with guest appearances from Tim “Ripper” Owens (KK’S PRIEST, ex-JUDAS PRIEST, ICED EARTH) and BURNING WITCHES frontwoman Laura Guldemond.
During a recent appearance on Rock Camp: The Podcast, Ellefson stated about ELLEFSON-SOTO: ”We started writing [the material for the first album], I think, [a few] years ago up in Wembley. The guitar player of the group, Andy Martongelli, is out of Italy. So we started composing. We had a record, and he said, he goes, ‘Dude, just call Jeff Scott Soto to sing.’ And this was back in 2021 during COVID. So I hit Jeff. We sent some stuff back and forth. It sounded great. We just kept sending stuff. And finally [Jeff] just said, ‘Rather than me just sort of being the hired singer here, I’d really like to just be a part of this.’ It was music to our ears. I’d rather do that too. I could pay you to sing on every song, but I think we’ve got something pretty cool here.”
Ellefson continued: “So the first record, of course, is always about kind of finding each other, so really it’s me and Jeff and Andy Martongelli — and our drummer Paolo as well; he’s also from Italy. So half the band’s Italian, half the band’s American, I guess. As that first record came out, it really had a great response to it, and so Andy and I started writing the second one. And we got it finished up back… I wanted to get everything done before Jeff went on tour with TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA back in November [of 2024]. So that was kind of our goal and our deadline, which we did. We mixed the record in the New Year and got it all teed up and ready to go and shot the videos and everything.”
Regarding how “Unbreakable” compares to 2022’s “Vacation In The Underworld”, David said: “The second record, you feel a little more comfortable with each other, ’cause you’re just musically more comfortable, personally you’re more comfortable. And we didn’t know if there’s ever gonna be a second record.”
Ellefson went on to say that he loves the “Unbreakable” album title. “I think it speaks to a lot of my life for sure, and I think it speaks to all of us,” he added. “I hope our audience relates to it, that together we’re stronger. And no matter what kind of stuff we go through, we all go through stuff. It’s called life. It’s called being human. And I think as long as you just kind of keep moving forward…
“I remember watching a yoga DVD one time and the instructor said, he goes, ‘As humans, we’re wired to think forward, and forward is where hope is.’ That’s why when you think it’s over, that’s when your hope’s gone and dreams die and it’s over,” David explained. “So I think as humans, at least in my life, it’s, like, just always say yes, always keep moving forward because that keeps the hope alive. It keeps the fire burning and the target is always ahead of you, not behind you and lamenting and wishing that it would’ve been different. And it’s always about moving forward. So I think ‘Unbreakable’ is very much a representation of us just keep moving and keep making music.”
The official music video for the “Unbreakable” title track — produced, directed and edited by Jamie Brown for Smoking Gun Inc. — can be seen below.
Recorded at Rogue Studios in Wembley, U.K. by Alessio Garavello and produced by Chris Collier (MICK MARS, KORN, FLAT BLACK),“Unbreakable” is a sonic assault packed with catchy riffs, melodic vocals, and thoughtful lyrics that blends their classic metal roots with modern rock intensity.
“This album digs even deeper,” Ellefson said in a press release last month. “It’s heavier, more personal, and shaped by everything we’ve experienced on and off the stage.” Soto added: “The energy we poured into this one — it’s the sound of two lifetimes colliding in riffs, rage, and redemption.”
Ellefson further commented: “One of the things I like most is I feel like you can hear a real sense of brotherhood on our records, that we’re really in the creative process together as a band. The consistency of our sound has remained intact while allowing us to further build upon each other’s strengths from our debut album. It’s an honest, organic approach that blends well and lets us explore new sounds and musical paths. At the end of the day, I don’t think there is anything that an artist desires more than that!”
“Unbreakable” will be available on all major streaming platforms with limited edition autographed vinyl, CD and cassette bundles exclusively through Rat Pak Records.
Track listing:
01. Unbreakable
02. SOAB
03. Shout
04. Hate You, Hate Me
05. Poison Tears (featuring Laura Guldemond of BURNING WITCHES)
06. Ghosts
07. Vengeance (feat. Tim “Ripper” Owens of KK’S PRIEST)
08. Snakes And Bastards
09. It’s Over When I Say It’s Over
10. The Day We Built Rome
11. Death On Two Legs (bonus track) (CD and vinyl)
In a March 2025 interview with Scott Itter of Dr. Music, Soto spoke about the status of the second album from ELLEFSON-SOTO. He said at the time: “The record’s in the can.
“The way Erik Martensson, he’s the ringleader, the overseer [of Soto‘s W.E.T. project], David is that with ELLEFSON-SOTO,” Jeff explained. “He pulls the songs together, he gets the timing together, he gets the label side, all the industry-side stuff together. I just have to relax and sit back while I’m doing all the million of other things that I’m doing, and I come in and then I dive in and I put my input.
“I love working with David and Andy [Martongelli], who’s our guitar player and also co-writer in the band. And I love the fact that they allow me to be me.
“I’ve proven myself as an artist, producer, writer, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, but there are still times where I’ll do something and they’ll go, ‘Hmm, [it’s] not really what I thought you were gonna do. Can you try more of this? Try more of that?’ I don’t mind that at all, because whatever is good for the song, the best thing for the song, of course. But when it comes to ELLEFSON-SOTO, I’m really, really headstrong on the ideas I come up with, and when I send it to David, [I’m] like, ‘Oh, God, I hope he doesn’t say, ‘Oh, I don’t know, man.” And every time, him and Andy say, ‘Home run. You knocked that one out of the park. That’s awesome.’ And that’s what motivates me to wanna do more and to give my all into that, even that situation, because I know if I’m making them happy with what I’m turning in, I know in the end, it’s gonna be a cohesive sound and project.”
Regarding the songwriting approach on the second ELLEFSON-SOTO album, Jeff said: “It’s weird because the first album, when we did it, it wasn’t supposed to be an album. I was doing songs with David and Andy. We were just writing songs and recording songs during the pandemic. And it turned into, ‘Hey, we’re on to something here. We can’t give these songs to someone else or just use ’em as catalog music. We have something here.’ And that’s what made us put that out as an album. This time around, we actually went in to record and write an album. We didn’t say, ‘Let’s just write songs and see where it goes.’ We actually went in and said, ‘This is the sound. This is what we created on the first album. Now let’s expand on it.'”
He added: “It’s really, really good. I don’t listen to my own stuff that often unless I have to learn songs for a tour or a show, but I actually find myself listening to this record just to listen to it.”
ELLEFSON-SOTO‘s debut album, “Vacation In The Underworld”, was released in October 2022 via Rat Pak Records. The duo was joined by Martongelli on guitar and keyboards and Paulo Caridi on drums. Giada Jade Etro from the Italian power metal band FROZEN CROWN made a guest appearance on the song “The Day Before Tomorrow”. Steve Conley and Ken Mary from FLOTSAM AND JETSAM performed on the title track, “Vacation In The Underworld”.
“Vacation In The Underworld” was produced by Chris Collier and featured eleven tracks and three bonus recordings.
To officially launch the project, Ellefson and Soto played concerts in September 2022 in Italy where they performed some of the music as well as ran through various catalog highlights, including selections from MEGADETH and Yngwie Malmsteen. They were joined by Martongelli as the musical director, as well as Caridi on drums and Valerio De Rosa on rhythm guitar.
In March 2021 — two months before David was fired from MEGADETH — Ellefson and Soto announced that they had been collaborating on some new material under the moniker ELLEFSON-SOTO. The ELLEFSON-SOTO version of the RIOT classic “Swords & Tequila” was simultaneously released across all digital streaming outlets via Ellefson‘s Combat Records.
When Ellefson‘s collaboration with Soto was first announced, David said in a statement: “Jeff and I have been friends for so many years that it’s great to finally collaborate on some material together. He has such a distinctive voice and perfect style for some new ideas my guitarist Andy Martongelli and I have been composing. We are excited about the progress of it all and thought this would be a perfect time to give a little sneak preview.”
At the time, Jeff added: “As COVID-19 became a big negative around the globe, it actually offered many artists a chance to finally collaborate with one another that might have never happened otherwise… As I have known David for many years, I knew from our other efforts outside of our day jobs that we could come up with some badass jams…and here we are, letting you in on our cool little secret.”
David was in MEGADETH from the band’s inception in 1983 to 2002, and again from 2010 until his latest exit.
