Megadeth founder Dave Mustaine reveals that he has cancer

Megadeth guitarist and vocalist Dave Mustaine has revealed he has been diagnosed with throat cancer. The 57-year-old, who founded the thrash metal band in 1983 after being fired from Metallica, posted the news on his Instagram page.

He wrote: “I’ve been diagnosed with throat cancer. It’s clearly something to be respected and faced head on – but I’ve faced obstacles before. I’m working closely with my doctors, and we’ve mapped out a treatment plan which they feel has a 90% success rate. Treatment has already begun.”

The band will cancel all its remaining shows in 2019 aside from October’s Megacruise, in which thousands of fans have booked for a three-day festival on a cruise liner with a line-up including Anthrax and Testament.

Mustaine said that the band will continue to work on their follow-up to the successful album, Dystopia. The title track won a Grammy award for best metal performance at the 2017 Grammy awards.

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In his Instagram posted, he added: “Meanwhile, Kiko [Loureiro], David [Ellefson], Dirk [Verbeuren] and I are in the studio, working on the follow up to Dystopia – which I can’t wait for everyone to hear.

“I’m so thankful for my whole team – family, doctors, band members, trainers, and more. I’ll keep everyone posted.”

Meanwhile, the first outdoor metal show in Ireland in many years takes place at St John's Castle in Limerick on Monday night.

Swedish Viking metallers Amon Amarth and Polish satanists Behemoth are joint-headliners.

Limerick Fianna Fáil councillor Kevin Sheehan attempted to have Behemoth banned because of their satanic beliefs.

He told Today FM’s The Last Word programme: “I’m a Christian and I am totally against anything to do with Satanism and with evil thoughts, music and practices.”