[Cover photo credit to Cameron Nunez]

Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine has announced the publication of a new memoir via Da Capo, an imprint of Grand Central Publishing (GCP) and the Hachette Book Group, arriving September 8, 2026.

In My Darkest Hour: A Memoir was a collaboration between Mustaine and Joe Layden and arrives in a landmark year for Megadeth as they hit #1 on the Billboard Charts for their self-titled final studio album and have embarked on a farewell tour. The memoir follows Mustaine’s previous autobiographical works, Mustaine and Rust In Peace. This new work will handle the last seven years of Mustaine’s life as he was diagnosed with cancer, treated, went into remission, and continued recording music, releasing music, and touring.

Ben Schafer, Executive Editor, Da Capo says about the book:

In My Darkest Hour is Dave Mustaine at his most revealing, vulnerable, and true. 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. Da Capo is proud to publish Dave Mustaine’s most unblinking memoir to date, one that isn’t only for Megadeth fans.

Dave Mustaine says about the experiences shared in the book:

One of 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.

Dave Mustaine was diagnosed in 2019, at the age of fifty-eight, with quamous cell carcinoma at the back of his tongue, which threatened his voice, his career in music, and his life.

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.”

Now, six years removed from that initial diagnosis, Mustaine is seeing the biggest success of his 40-plus-year career with Megadeth’s final studio album and tour. Megadeth’s new album (released in January 2026) debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 in the U.S., marking the band’s highest debut week ever on the chart. Around the world, the album hit #1 in 11 countries and landed Top 5 positions on 11 additional charts.