MEGADETH's DAVE MUSTAINE Reflects On His Cancer Battle: 'God Wanted Me To Be Healed'

On Friday, August 14, MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine went live on TalkShopLive for a special question-and-answer session about his new memoir, "In My Darkest Hour", which will arrive on September 8, 2026 via Grand Central Publishing's recently launched Da Capo imprint. The book, which Mustaine co-wrote with author Joe Layden, details Dave's "gnarly" treatment after he was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma at the back of his tongue in 2019. It tells how Mustaine went from chemo and radiation appointments to hourslong recording sessions to make MEGADETH's sixteenth album, "The Sick, The Dying … And The Dead!", which arrived in 2022. The book also reveals Mustaine's inner struggles with mortality, and how he sought refuge in family and faith.

Asked by one fan if his cancer battle shifted his "perspective on life toward a more spiritual path", the 64-year-old musician said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Nah. I was pretty set spiritually before this all happened, and a lot of the people that have suggested stuff online, a lot of them were really wonderful people. So, it was great to see like-minded people, people that were willing to send positive thoughts and feelings my way. But I have to remember my whole thing — God wanting me to be healed — and that that was it. He said that was gonna happen, and I got healed."

Asked what kept him motivated to create music during his grueling cancer treatments, Mustaine said: "Great bandmates. A really professional co-producer. We had a really great thing working. Unfortunately, we had the drama that was going on in an area of the band that has been resolved," apparently referencing longtime MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson's May 2021 exit from the band after sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving the bassist were posted on Twitter, "and we don't usually bring it up very much just because it's an ugly chapter, and I don't think anybody wants to talk about it. So, it was mainly focusing on the music, which was such a great thing to go in and do a musical offering to our fans, and to focus on the music instead of all this just crap with people trying to get drama out of bands that they love."

Dave also talked about the support he received during his cancer battle from his then-bandmates, including MEGADETH drummer Dirk Verbeuren. Mustaine said: "Yeah. Dirk was great. He was wonderful. [Current MEGADETH guitarist] Teemu [Mäntysaari] wasn't in the picture yet. [Then-MEGADETH guitarist] Kiko [Loureiro] was very helpful, but I think he was very uncomfortable, and that he was more or less a little bit afraid of what was gonna happen, because here's this guy that he just met that he really looks up to, and we've become friends, and the next thing you know, I'm looking like I'm gonna die on the outside. So, yeah, Dirk was very supportive, and so was my son and my wife. My daughter was also scared a lot too, so I think everybody dealt with it their own way. And we talk about that in the book. Each one of the people that were part of the book, they were asked to share their experience with everything, and I think it turned out really great to have all those different outlooks towards it."

On the topic of how facing a life-threatening illness changed his internal perspective and motivated him to write "In My Darkest Hour", Dave said: "I personally adore my fans. I did not want them to get as sad as I saw them get. And I was really happy to be able to say that I was in remission once the doctor told me that in October [of 2019].

"You never really know with some of these things that happen in your life, the extent of what the treatment's gonna entail," he explained. "I had a lot of hope, and I had a lot of people praying for me, a lot of people sending me positive thoughts and stuff. I had money to get good treatment. I was living in an area where the doctors were fantastic. And not everybody's gonna have that same opportunity. So, I wanted to make sure that I was available to tell my story and share that story of hope. 'Cause even if you do have access to all that stuff, you're still afraid. You don't know what's going on. And you're gonna go put your head into a machine that's meant to fucking kill you."

After the interviewer noted that the chemotherapy sessions "must not have been any fun", Dave said: "A lot of it I don't remember. That was one of the terrible things that comes along with when you do radiation and chemotherapy. It's called chemo brain, where your brain is, as is your entire body, is being attacked, and your body's dying. So, it was mentally a complete mindfuck to go into some place and to willingly say, 'Okay, kill me. Kill me a little more today.' It was very terrifying."

The Da Capo imprint, which is focused on publishing books about music, is a reincarnation of Da Capo Press, the longtime music publisher acquired as part of Hachette Book Group's 2016 acquisition of the Perseus Book Group, which was folded into Hachette Books in 2018. The Hachette Books imprint was dissolved in 2024 as part of restructuring efforts at Hachette Book Group.

"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."

"'In My Darkest Hour' is Dave Mustaine at his most revealing, vulnerable, and true," Ben Schafer, Da Capo's executive editor, said. "With lacerating honesty and soulful reflection, he speaks to the universal human experience of facing serious illness and how it changes a person, their family and friends, and one’s relationship with creativity."

"In My Darkest Hour" was co-written by The New York Times journalist Joe Layden, who previously worked with Mustaine on his "Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir" autobiography and on original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley's "No Regrets: A Rock 'N' Roll Memoir". Layden also authored "The Last Great Fight" about what is considered by many to be the biggest upset in the history of boxing: James "Buster" Douglas's tenth-round knockout win over Mike Tyson in 1990.

Official "In My Darkest Hour" book description, courtesy of Da Capo: "From King of Metal Dave Mustaine, a powerful reflection on the harsh truths and raw realizations that can only come from confronting death.

"Dave Mustaine is no stranger to pain and suffering. He battled demons all his life — including an alcoholic father, addiction, and black magic — and turned fifty-eight believing he'd survived the worst. But in 2019, Mustaine was forced to face the loss of his instantly recognizable voice and the disintegration of his musical talent. Diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma at the back of his tongue, his entire career — and possibly his life — was about to end.

"For Mustaine, it was one more opportunity to fight like hell.

"'In My Darkest Hour' takes readers from the treatment room to the studio as Mustaine chronicles how his diagnosis inspired him to take up the pen and guitar pick, going from radiation and chemotherapy appointments straight into hours-long recording sessions, resulting in MEGADETH's sixteenth studio album, 'The Sick, The Dying…And The Dead!' Along the way, Mustaine details how confronting his own mortality brought him closer to his family, taught him how to ask for help, strengthened his faith, and challenged the vulnerability of his art.

"Filled with perseverance, hope, and the determination to never let the bastards grind you down, 'In My Darkest Hour' is a masterful portrait of a Dave Mustaine that the world has yet to see, and serves as a moving reminder that even our most invincible heroes are human."

In a June 2026 interview with Finland's Chaoszine, Mustaine stated about "In My Darkest Hour": "The book is about my journey through cancer, having to make 'The Sick, The Dying…And The Dead!' record at the same time. Because I was diagnosed right as we were starting the record, and you're faced with a life-or-death battle, and I didn't know how I was gonna come out, so I didn't want to stop recording in case it was my last record, in case I died. So, yeah, that was a very intense time."

Asked if it was "extremely difficult" for him to write a book about his cancer battle, Mustaine said: "Well, some of it, it was difficult — not emotionally, but because I just had a hard time remembering a lot of the details. Chemotherapy has a terrible effect on your memory. It even actually has a name — the syndrome is called 'chemo brain'. When I first went through all my treatment, I was having the hardest time remembering shit, and it was really affecting me, because I had a mother-in-law that just passed away from Alzheimer's. And I know that Alzheimer's and dementia is rampant in the world right now, and I didn't wanna go out that way. So, having issues with your memory, that's scary stuff, man. Your voluntary muscles are one thing, but the involuntary muscles, like breathing — when you forget to breathe, you die."

As for whether it's "easier to write as the musician Dave or as a person Dave when it comes to doing a book", Mustaine said: "It's about me, the person, Dave. But the music part about it is such a critical part of who I am. It's not what I am; it's what I do. But, yeah, the book is about me, the person, and what it was like. It was tough. It was really tough. I don't know if people are gonna get all choked up over it, but I hope that for some people that it gives them hope, people who may be diagnosed with that kind of illness. It always feels good to know that somebody else went through what you're going through, and they were victorious."

"Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir", which came out in August 2010, landed at position No. 15 on The New York Times "Hardcover Nonfiction" best sellers list. The book was released in the U.S. via HarperCollins's It Books imprint (focusing on pop culture, sports, style and content derived from the Internet). The U.K. edition, "Mustaine: A Life In Metal", hit bookstores in the U.K. in September 2010.

In September 2020, Mustaine released his second book, "Rust In Peace: The Inside Story Of The Megadeth Masterpiece" (formerly "Building The Perfect Beast"),via Hachette Books. "Rust In Peace: The Inside Story Of The Megadeth Masterpiece" detailed the making of MEGADETH's iconic "Rust In Peace" album, which was released in 1990.

The now-64-year-old MEGADETH guitarist/vocalist revealed his cancer battle in June 2019 on social media, saying the doctors had given him a 90 percent chance of beating the illness.

Dave later said that he beat cancer after 51 radiation treatments and nine chemotherapy sessions. He returned to the stage in early 2020 — weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic derailed touring for months.

In 2014, five years before his cancer diagnosis, Mustaine and his family relocated to Tennessee, in part, because his daughter Electra wanted to pursue a singing career. Electra now helps run the visionary wine brand House Of Mustaine which uniquely blends music, culture, and fine winemaking.