# Dave Mustaine Announces Megadeth Retirement > Dave Mustaine reveals Megadeth's retirement due to hand injury and final tour. - Title: Dave Mustaine Announces Megadeth Retirement · Rolling Stone - Summary: Dave Mustaine reveals Megadeth's retirement due to hand injury and final tour. Dave Mustaine is retiring Megadeth after his hand injury prevents guitar… - Keywords: dave mustaine, megadeth, hand injury, retirement, final tour, billboard 200, in my darkest hour, Dave, Mustaine, Announces, Rolling Stone - Source: Rolling Stone — https://rollingstone.com/music/music-news/megadeth-dave-mustaine-in-my-darkest-hour-book-launch-video-1235627256 - Author: Rolling Stone - Published: 2026-09-26T14:00:00+00:00 - Read time: 1 min - Topics: dave mustaine, megadeth, hand injury, retirement, final tour, billboard 200, in my darkest hour ## Hand Injury Dave Mustaine showed his hand injury at a New York book launch event, explaining Dupuytren’s contracture prevents him from playing guitar. > I have an injury to my hand. Some of you can see it. ## Retirement Announcement Mustaine announced Megadeth would retire after the release of their final studio album in August 2025. > If there was ever a perfect time to tour the world, it’s now. ## Billboard Success Megadeth’s final album debuted at Number One on the Billboard 200 after its January 2026 release. > It’s a great feeling. ## Bittersweet Tour Mustaine described Megadeth’s final tour as bittersweet, with moments of stage pride and emotional reflection. > There’s times when we take the stairs in the back, and walking up the stairs... I say, ‘It’s your stage,’ and I go up there and do my job. ## Live Album Possibility Mustaine suggested recording live tracks from the final tour could form a future live album. > If we were to want to, say, have some live recordings of us playing songs for the future, it might be a good idea to record a bunch of different live tracks. ## Unreleased Songs Mustaine mentioned completed songs from the final album with band members James LoMenzo, Teemu Mäntysaari, and Dirk Verbeuren that may become bonus tracks. > There’s a couple completed songs from the last album with James [LoMenzo, bass], Teemu [Mäntysaari, guitar], and Dirk [Verbeuren, drums], that we did not release yet. ## Lost Book Mustaine revealed his song history book, Score, was lost when Sanctuary Records went bankrupt. > That book was written and turned into Sanctuary Records many, many years ago, and Sanctuary went bankrupt. ## Key takeaway Dave Mustaine is retiring Megadeth after his hand injury prevents guitar playing, with final tour and potential live album.