Mustaine Shows Hand Injury Driving Megadeth Retirement — SkimNews
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Dave Mustaine showed fans his left hand at a New York book launch for his memoir "In My Darkest Hour" at Kaufman Music Center, revealing he has Dupuytren's contracture — tendons in his palm have fused and are pulling his finger down, potentially requiring future surgery.
- Megadeth announced their retirement in August 2025 alongside the release of their self-titled final album, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in January.
- Mustaine hinted that recordings from Megadeth's final tour could become a live album, and said the band has unreleased bonus tracks featuring bassist James LoMenzo, guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari, and drummer Dirk Verbeuren.
- Mustaine disclosed that another book he wrote, "Score," covering the stories behind Megadeth's first 20 years of songs, was lost when Sanctuary Records went bankrupt and returned the manuscript.
- During the hour-long chat, Mustaine discussed his tongue cancer diagnosis and said martial arts discipline helped him through treatment, now framing his outlook as "living every day like it's my last" because he doesn't know when his last day will come.
- Mustaine ruled out a solo album — saying it "would just be another Megadeth album" — and said he hopes technological advances will make surgery on his hand viable before committing to any post-retirement plans.
Why it matters: Megadeth exits at a commercial peak: their self-titled final album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in January, giving the long-running thrash institution a rare top-of-the-chart sendoff. For fans, the retirement is shaped less by a single diagnosis than by Mustaine's mortality awareness after surviving tongue cancer — the hand condition is the medical constraint, not the whole story.
Ask SkimNews
