Megadeth mastermind Dave Mustaine has fans guessing after teasing what he calls a ‘massive’ announcement coming later this month. Speaking with Turkey’s “Apaçık Radyo“, Mustaine kept the details under wraps while doing everything he could to build the suspense.
“We’ve got an announcement we’re making [in July] that is so f**king massive. It’s out of this world. Let me say it like that. I gave you a clue right there. It’s out of this world… We got another Megacruise we’re starting to work on, something we’re gonna announce, Peace Sails cruise. And that’s gonna be — unlike the last time, where I got sick and I couldn’t go, I’m going to be on that one,” he said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
His “out of this world” phrasing has fueled plenty of speculation, especially since Mustaine told Metal Hammer last year that he’d love Megadeth‘s final concert to happen in space. Alongside that teaser, he confirmed a second Megacruise under the “Peace Sails” banner is in the works, and this time he’ll be aboard, unlike the inaugural voyage.
That first Megacruise, held October 13–18, 2019, was one he was forced to sit out, and the reason turned out to be serious. “That was a real shame for me, because we had booked it, all the bands, and everybody had bought their tickets, and everybody was ready to go, and I got really sick,” he said. “That was the beginning of the evidence that I was developing [throat] cancer. And so I had to stay home.”
Mustaine went on to speak candidly about the toll of the treatment he underwent after being diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma at the back of his tongue in 2019.
“I’ve been in remission with the cancer now since [early 2020]… I’m in remission, and I’m really happy about that,” he continued. “I work really hard at it. Sometimes it’s a bear. It’s sometimes really difficult to deal with the side effects, because the radiation and the chemotherapy that I did, it was all around my jaw, so all my teeth have been damaged. And I have to go to great lengths to protect my teeth. I had a tooth break on the tour. I had a tooth in the front break. I had a tooth up here break last tour. A tooth in the back here just completely break off and. I have to have them put back in all the time. That’s the thing. Normal teeth, when they fall out, you can put them back in if there’s enough teeth left. But implants are the next step, and the side effect of the radiation has caused me to need to get implants. But you know what? I still can talk and I can still sing, and a lot of people who get tongue cancer can’t even talk. So I thank God for that, and I thank my doctors and my family.”
He tied the experience directly to the band’s recent work and a book on the way. “We made The Sick, The Dying…And The Dead! record while I was going through all the cancer treatment, and we have a book coming out called ‘In My Darkest Hour‘ about my journey through cancer. And it was very emotional. I read back through the book and saw what a lot of the people that I asked to participate in there said, the ones that witnessed everything, the ones that were there helping me through it. And there were some really harrowing days. There were some really ugly moments. I didn’t do terrible, but there were several really bad days. And I’m just grateful I got through it.”
Asked about his knack for reinventing himself, whether through his health battle or Megadeth‘s ongoing farewell run, Mustaine reflected on how he’s chosen to frame his own story.
“Cancer is different for all people. That’s the one thing I learned, without a doubt. Because a lot of people use their cancer treatment as a weapon against people around them. I travel with a person on my staff that helps me with the medication I have to take for my aftercare. And every time we go through a security checkpoint, I have to say to the security person, ‘I have a safe that has the medicine in it,’ and I have to tell them I’m a cancer survivor. I don’t say ‘I had cancer’ or ‘I’m a cancer patient.’ I have to remind myself I’m a survivor. And I’ve survived a lot of stuff, and I’m gonna keep surviving. And I think it would be a glorious day if, when this tour, when everything winds down and I make the decision to put my hand in the hands of another person, that it works.”
In My Darkest Hour, co-written with journalist Joe Layden, is due September 8, 2026 via Grand Central Publishing‘s Da Capo imprint. It follows Megadeth‘s self-titled final album, which topped the Billboard 200 in January. The band is currently wrapping its European festival dates before returning to North America later this month for headlining shows, ahead of joining Iron Maiden‘s “Run For Your Lives” world tour in August.
