developed his style of playing exotic scale solos from the Cacophony era, and integrated it into the music of Megadeth. In July 1992, Megadeth released Countdown to Extinction, which was a more commercial album, aimed at a wider audience, and sold double platinum. Friedman played on Megadeth's further releases Youthanasia (1994), Cryptic Writings (1997), and Risk (1999). After a total of five studio albums with Megadeth, in December 1999 Friedman announced his departure from Megadeth. His last show with the band was on January 14, 2000 at the Moore Theatre in Seattle. Friedman later stated that he got tired of "holding the flag" for traditional metal and felt that he could not evolve as a musician. In an interview with Ultimate-Guitar.com in March 2007, Friedman claimed that he wanted Megadeth to move towards a more aggressive sound and that he'd rather have been playing straight pop music than the pop-influenced metal Megadeth was playing at the time. During Friedman's time in the band, they sold over ten million albums worldwide. During his time in Megadeth, Friedman released three solo albums between 1992 and 1996, which featured Megadeth bandmate Nick Menza on drums. Friedman reunited with Megadeth for the songs "Countdown to Extinction", "Tornado of Souls" and "Symphony of Destruction" at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo on February 27, 2023. In Japan and recent work Friedman appeared on the Tourniquet albums Where Moth and Rust Destroy (2003) and Antiseptic Bloodbath (2012), and Tourniquet drummer Ted Kirkpatrick's solo album Onward to Freedom In 2003, Friedman collaborated with Nanase Aikawa on her third mini album R.U.O.K. In 2021 he toured with Aikawa on her 25th anniversary concert tour. In 2009, Friedman collaborated with Ema Gelotte and Tinna Karlsdotter from "All Ends" as the lead guitarist for the song "With Me" which was featured in the game, Sonic and the Black Knight. In 2010, Friedman launched a record label under Avex Group, called Gokukara Records. In February 2010, during C. J. Ramone's Japan tour, he made a guest appearance on guitar for "California Sun", a cover song previously released by The Ramones on their 1977 album, Leave Home. In 2011, Friedman collaborated with Japanese idol group Momoiro Clover Z, providing guitar for their song "Mōretsu Uchū Kōkyōkyoku Dai 7 Gakushō "Mugen no Ai"", which would become a hit in 2012. In 2011, Friedman also worked with Ayanocozey Show to make the song SAMURAI STRONG