Kory Grow
Contact Kory Grow on X View all posts by Kory Grow March 19, 2026
Dave Mustaine in 2025. CRISTINA QUICLER/AFP/Getty Images Dave Mustaine, the thrash-metal firebrand who founded Megadeth in 1983, will reflect on some of the scariest times in his life in a new autobiography, In My Darkest Hour: A Memoir, due Sept. 8. The book, which Mustaine co-wrote with author Joe Layden, will recount how he battled a cancer diagnosis in the past decade.
In 2019, doctors diagnosed Mustaine with a squamous cell carcinoma at the back of his tongue. The book will detail how Mustaine, who has survived alcoholism and drug addiction — chronicled in depth in his 2010 book, Mustaine: A Life in Metal, also co-written with Layden, and Rust in Peace, a full-band memoir that focused on the making of Megadeth’s thrash touchstone — responded to the diagnosis with a new resolve to make music. It tells how the musician went from chemo and radiation appointments to hours-long recording sessions to make Megadeth’s 16th album, The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead! which arrived in 2022. Publishers say the book reveals Mustaine’s inner struggles with mortality, and how he sought refuge in family and faith.
“One of the most harrowing experiences of my adult life has been my seven-year journey through cancer treatment and onward into remission,” Mustaine said in a statement. “This story is considerably more than just, ‘Go to the doctor, get diagnosed, get treatment and hopefully I live happily ever after.’ This was a journey of me saving myself, staying alive, keeping my family together, and continuing to make music through it all.”
Now six years removed from the initial diagnosis, Mustaine has kept his determination. Megadeth released their 17th album, Megadeth, in January, where it debuted at Number One on the Billboard 200. The album features Megadeth’s cover of Metallica’s “Ride the Lightning,” a tune Mustaine received a co-writing credit on, and the punky single, “I Don’t Care.”
