Dave Mustaine, the mercurial* founder and frontman of the thrash* metal band Megadeth, took to social media on Monday to announce that he’s been diagnosed with throat cancer. The 57-year-old rocker said the band will have to cancel their remaining 2019 concert dates so that he can undergo treatment.

“It’s clearly something to be respected and faced head on — but I’ve faced obstacles before,” Mustaine said. “I’m working closely with my doctors, and we’ve mapped out a treatment plan which they feel has a 90 percent success rate. Treatment has already begun.”

He continued, “Unfortunately, this requires that we cancel most shows this year.”

Megadeth was scheduled to play in Montreal before continuing on a summer tour hitting cities including Vancouver, Sacramento, and the July 4 “Summerfest” show in Milwaukee. All such tour dates have been deleted from the band’s official website. However, the band is still listed as taking to the high seas in October for the Megacruise out of Los Angeles. In his Facebook post, Mustaine said he believes the Megacruise will still take place on October 13-18.

“The 2019 Megacruise will happen, and the band will be a part of it in some form,” he said, without specifying anything further.

Mustaine isn’t the first major rocker to face down throat cancer. In 2014, Iron Maiden lead Bruce Dickinson had surgery to remove a cancerous* lump on his throat.

He has since recovered and continues to sing with the band, although he said that his vocal chords were “cooked” due to the required cancer treatments.

(SD-Agencies)