Monte Pittman, probably best known as Madonna’s guitar player, has signed a deal with Metal Blade Records. The release date for his third solo album will be announced shortly. It will be produced by Flemming Rasmussen, who produced Metallica’s Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets and …And Justice For All. In addition to Madonna, who he’s been playing with since 2001, he’s also played with and written for Prong, appearing on 2003’s Scorpio Rising and 2007’s Power of the Damager.

While we’re not sure what his solo album is like, as long as he keeps sneaking Pantera into Madonna songs, we’ll be ok with whatever he does. What he’s doing this weekend is playing a trio of acoustic shows, one tomorrow in Hollywood at the Hotel Cafe, and this weekend’s Warped Tour shows in Mountain View and Venture at the Acoustic Basement Stage. A quote from Metal Blade founder/CEO and a clip of Madonna shredding Pantera with Pittman follow:

“We are so happy to welcome Monte Pittman to the Metal Blade Family. He is a tried and true metalhead and has recorded a crushing album! Metallica producer Flemming Rasmussen produced a devastating metal record with Monte and we could not be happier that we are working together on this!”

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