Dave Mustaine has a date with the bookshelf. His next memoir, In My Darkest Hour, is set for release on 09/08/2026 through Da Capo, the newly relaunched music-focused imprint under Grand Central Publishing. The book will chronicle the Megadeth frontman’s seven-year reckoning with squamous cell carcinoma — a cancer of the tongue that threatened to take his voice, his band, and his life.
Mustaine broke the news of his diagnosis in 06/2019, telling fans that doctors had given him a 90% chance of survival. What followed was a grueling course of 51 radiation treatments and nine rounds of chemotherapy — all while he continued writing and recording what became Megadeth‘s sixteenth studio album, The Sick, The Dying…And The Dead! He returned to the stage in early 2020, just weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic shut touring down worldwide.
In a statement to Rolling Stone, Mustaine laid out exactly what kind of book this is — and what it isn’t: “One of the most harrowing experiences of my adult life has been my seven-year journey through cancer treatment and onward into remission. 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.”
Da Capo executive editor Ben Schafer echoed that framing. “‘In My Darkest Hour’ is Dave Mustaine at his most revealing, vulnerable, and true,” he 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.”
The memoir was co-written by New York Times journalist Joe Layden, a long-standing collaborator who previously worked with Mustaine on Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir (2010) and with original Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley on No Regrets: A Rock ‘N’ Roll Memoir. Layden is also the author of The Last Great Fight, which documents James “Buster” Douglas‘s stunning tenth-round knockout of Mike Tyson in 1990 — widely regarded as the biggest upset in boxing history.
Per the official book description from Da Capo, In My Darkest Hour will track Mustaine “from the treatment room to the studio,” detailing how the diagnosis pushed him deeper into both his faith and his artistry. The record that came out of that period, The Sick, The Dying…And The Dead!, was shaped directly by what he was living through — radiation and chemo appointments running parallel to hours-long recording sessions.
This will be Mustaine‘s third book. Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir debuted at No. 15 on the New York Times “Hardcover Nonfiction” bestseller list upon its release in 08/2010. His second, Rust In Peace: The Inside Story Of The Megadeth Masterpiece, arrived via Hachette Books in 09/2020 and offered a deep dive into the making of Megadeth‘s 1990 landmark album.
In My Darkest Hour hits shelves on 09/08/2026.
