Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine has lately been making the rounds to debate the band’s last LP – 2026’s Megadeth – and their farewell tour. Throughout a current look on WAPL Mornings With Laura Lee & Cutter, Mustaine additionally defined that his upcoming 2027 memoir – In My Darkest Hour – will discover “what life was like” battling throat most cancers in 2019.
What Dave Mustaine Stated About His Upcoming Memoir
About midway into the interview (posted to YouTube on Feb. 13), co-host Lee requested Mustaine about what In My Darkest Hour will talk about.
“One of the simplest ways to summarize the ebook is it is the medical course of after which what life was like at the moment, you recognize, and stepping into the main points,” Mustaine started.
He elaborated:
I might go and get radiation and, like, chemotherapy after which I might go to the studio and work. Some days, I might get to the studio and we might play and I might must run exterior and throw up and return inside and play. And I misplaced loads of weight, and fortuitously for me, I had Dirk [Verbeuren, Megadeth’s drummer] there and [producer] Chris Rakestraw was there, and so they had been supportive and I bought via it.
I imply, I would not wanna undergo it once more. I think about that if I – I am in remission proper now — I have been for about six years — [and] I think about [that] if something occurs once more, I am gonna have the identical mentality about it as a result of once I went in there, I believed, “I am gonna kill most cancers.” I used to be so pissed, ‘trigger I used to all the time joke round [that] something that bought in my physique would die. We caught it early and went via the entire therapy, however as a result of I am a singer, we needed to do issues completely totally different. We needed to focus otherwise with the radiation, and if it will’ve been off by even a millimeter, you recognize, that is it for Dave.
You may watch the complete interview beneath:
Dave Mustaine Discusses His Upcoming Memoir + Extra (Feb. 13, 2026)
In My Darkest Hour follows Mustaine’s prior two books (2010’s Mustaine: A Heavy Metallic Memoir and 2020’s Rust In Peace: The Inside Story of the Megadeth Masterpiece). As Blabbermouth famous, the newest ebook will likely be co-written by New York Occasions journalist Joe Layden, who additionally labored on Mustaine: A Heavy Metallic Memoir along with late KISS guitarist Ace Frehley’s No Regrets: A Rock ‘N’ Roll Memoir from 2012.
In My Darkest Hour is ready to launch in September 2027 by way of De Capo, who describe it as follows:
From King of Metallic Dave Mustaine, a strong reflection on the cruel truths and uncooked realizations that may solely come from confronting demise.
Dave Mustaine is not any stranger to ache and struggling. He battled demons all his life—together with an alcoholic father, dependancy, and black magic—and turned fifty-eight believing he’d survived the worst. However in 2019, Mustaine was pressured to face the lack of his immediately recognizable voice and the disintegration of his musical expertise. Recognized with squamous cell carcinoma in the back of his tongue, his complete profession—and probably his life—was about to finish.
For Mustaine, it was another alternative to struggle like hell.
In My Darkest Hour takes readers from the therapy room to the studio as Mustaine chronicles how his analysis impressed him to take up the pen and guitar choose, going from radiation and chemotherapy appointments straight into hours-long recording periods, leading to Megadeth’s sixteenth studio album, ‘The Sick, The Dying…and the Lifeless!’ Alongside the best way, Mustaine particulars how confronting his personal mortality introduced him nearer to his household, taught him the way to ask for assist, strengthened his religion, and challenged the vulnerability of his artwork.
Crammed with perseverance, hope, and the willpower to by no means let the bastards grind you down, In My Darkest Hour is a masterful portrait of a Dave Mustaine that the world has but to see, and serves as a transferring reminder that even our most invincible heroes are human.
You may preorder it right here.
READ MORE: What David Ellefson Likes and Dislikes About Megadeth’s Remaining Album
Extra About Mustaine’s Battle With Most cancers
Again in June 2019, Loudwire reported on Mustaine’s throat most cancers analysis (particularly, a squamous cell carcinoma on the bottom of his tongue) and subsequent cancellation of Megadeth’s 2019 tour. A number of months later, Mustaine informed Rolling Stone journal, “I by no means accept something however full success or, on this case, victory” as he vowed to defeat the sickness within the wake of receiving constructive check outcomes following therapy.
In October of 2019, former bandmate David Ellefson confirmed that Mustaine had completed his most cancers therapy, and in January of the following yr, Mustaine himself informed a London viewers that he’s “100% freed from most cancers.”
About 10 years later, Mustaine elaborated on his ordeal by revealing that – as Loudwire wrote on the time – he “used marijuana to ease the negative effects from 51 radiation remedies and 9 chemotherapy periods.”
Different Megadeth Information
Final month, Mustaine sat down with Loudwire Nights’ Chuck Armstrong to debate Megadeth’s farewell tour (which begins tonight, Feb. 15, in Victoria, British Columbia).
“We’re gonna exit on a bang and that is what we have all the time needed to do,” Mustaine mentioned.
He additionally clarified: “We play higher than loads of the bands which are out on tour these days — not all of them, however we will maintain our personal in opposition to loads of the bands which are on the market and we combine our setlist up, so we’re all the time taking part in Megadeth’s catalog.”
Talking of Megadeth, Mustaine informed Armstrong that the lyrics to the final track (appropriately titled “The Final Be aware”) took a very long time to be finalized as a result of they didn’t know till “midway via the report” that Megadeth can be their last album: “‘The Final Be aware’ really had totally different lyrics earlier than we talked about going out on high and never having the issues that befall bands that maintain them from sustaining their standing as they go into that legacy stage of their profession, in the event that they’re so fortunate.”
Earlier this month, Mustaine informed NME that he’s involved about the way forward for current Grammy winner and rising star Yungblud.
Particularly, Mustaine was requested about the potential of Yungblud single-handedly “carry[ing] the torch for a brand new technology of steel and rock followers,” to which he bluntly answered [via NME]:
Maybe [that could happen]. However while you say someone is working with everyone, that to me means they’ve reached a degree the place they should both take a break, or discover one thing else [to separate them from the pack] since you run the chance of your track sounding just like the final individual’s track, which then sounds just like the final individual’s track.
Going again to Megadeth’s farewell tour, they’ll be taking part in a number of dates in Canada earlier than venturing over to Peru, Columbia, Chile, Mexico, Spain and quite a few different locations earlier than returning to North America in September. Alongside the best way, they’ll be sharing the stage with Anthrax, Exodus and/or Iron Maiden.
In fact, you may see all of Megadeth’s upcoming tour dates – and seize tickets – right here.
So, will you be studying In My Darkest Hour when it arrives subsequent yr? Tell us!
The Finest Track Off Each Megadeth Album
From hyper-speed thrash to melodic arduous rock, Dave Mustaine and Co. delivered numerous classics.
Gallery Credit score: Bryan Rolli
