Tag Archives: RIP

UPDATE: Joshua Nassaru Ward, The Drummer of Voraath Has Died – A GoFundMe Has Been Launched

Posted on by

Joshua Nassaru Ward, drummer for the up-and-coming Technical Death Metal band Voraath has died. He was just 37 years old. He was killed by a drunk driver, along with his fiance Zelena, and two other friends last night in North Carolina. He leaves behind a young son. UPDATE: A GoFundMe has been launched to help with funeral expenses. Josh was an incredible drummer and kind soul, who recently helped the band release their killer debut full-length album, Vol 1: The Hymn of the Hunters (Exitus Stratagem Records), after years of hard work. We got to meet Josh in person this summer at their tour stop in San Francisco with Casket Robbery and Gorgatron. RIP Josh.Continue reading →


FEATURE: Pantera’s Dimebag Darrell Abbott Died 20 Years Ago Today

Posted on by

December 8th marks the anniversary of the death of Dimebag Darrell Lance Abbott of Pantera and Damageplan. Today is the 20th anniversary of his murder of while on stage at the former Alrosa Villa club in Columbus, Ohio. That venue has now been demolished.  As we do every year on this  date, we prefer to cherish Darrell’s memory and honor how he lived. Twenty-years on, no one can deny his impact as a player, songwriter, and major personality in metal. The five modern classic albums he made with Pantera starting with 1990s Cowboys From Hell, 1992s Vulgar Display of Power, 1994’s Far Beyond Driven, 1997s The Great Southern Trendkill, and 2000’s Reinventing the Steel will last forever as some of the heaviest, inventive, and soulful metal music ever made. Darrell also had three of the top 100 guitar solos of all-time as ranked by Guitar World – “Walk,” “Cemetary Gates,” and “Floods.” While controversial, the current world tour from the reformed version of Pantera is a tribute to Darrell and his late brother Vinnie Paul, despite some resistance from fans. The current version of Pantera, featuring Phil Anselmo, Rex Brown, along with Zakk Wylde (Ozzy, Black Label Society), and Charlie Benante (Anthrax, S.O.D., G.B.I.) has more dates lined up for 2025 on their own as a headliner and opening for Metallica. So Getcha pull! Jam out to some classic Dimebag and Pantera tracks and raise a glass or smoke (or both) to the legend of legends on guitar!
Continue reading →


Frank Cannino (Scrape, Scar Culture, Nemacyte) Has Passed Away, GoFundMe Launched

Posted on by

Sad news to report as longtime New York City metal musician and bassist Frank Cannino has passed away, suddenly according to posts from family and friends on social media. No cause of death has been revealed. Frank was a member of Scrape, and Scar Culture who had several releases on Century Media Records, including a split with Krisiun. More recently, he was in Nemacyte, featuring former members of Scar Culture and other area bands. A GoFundMe has been launched to help Franks’ family, which you can donate to at the link below. Thanks to his bandmate Dimitry Borisov for sending in some candid photos of Frank. We send our deepest condolences to his family, friends, and fans at this time.  Continue reading →


Metal Days Cancels Their 2024 Festival and Goes Out of Business, All Social Media Accounts Wiped

Posted on by

The long-running but troubled metal festival Metal Days in Slovenia has gone dark for 2024 and will not host another festival ever again under this name. Originally emerging in 2024 as Metal Camp, the festival was renamed Metal Days from 2013- 2022. After holding a truncated festival in 2023, citing catastrophic flooding canceling the last day, and blaming this years’ cancelation on fallout from the ill will of cheated fans, from the global pandemic, economic crisis, and business mistakes. They had promised to refund tickets for several past festivals, but in a lengthy farewell statement only available on their website, they blamed another company for withholding refunds. Metal Days also faced local competition from Tolminator, a smaller yet still successful festival in Tolmin, the original location of Metal Days until 2023. The statement also claimed that they “reinvested the profits from MetalDays into our other festivals: Winter Days of Metal, Headbanger’s Holiday, Bluesland, Overjam Reggae (2017-2019), and Punk Rock Holiday (2013-2016)” – all leading to losses weighing on the parent festival. The statement also states they tried to sell the festival in order to save it for fans to The statement includes details of the festival organizers’ attempts to sell the brand to major festival companies that included Live Nation, Superstruct, and Festival Republic, but failed. Further complicating things, Metal Days has wiped its socials except for YouTube, where they notoriously used to delete negative fan comments, which is a bad look considering the money owed fans, and gaslighting those fans about the whereabouts of that money. Thousands of bands played the festival, including past headliners for the event include: Amon Amarth, Anthrax, As I Lay Dying, At the Gates, Benediction, Beyond Creation, Cattle Decapitation, Clutch, Cradle of Filth, Messhuggah, and many more. At its best, it was a perfect combo of the great traditions of European-style open-air extreme metal music festivals, metalhead culture, camping, lakefront beach fun, and romping in the great outdoors in gorgeous Slovenia. We will keep tracking this story to see if fans ever get refunded, or if the promoters ever try to return. Read the full farewell statement below.   Continue reading →


Jon Wysocki, Founding Drummer of Staind, Soil, and Lydia’s Castle, Has Died 

Posted on by

Jon Wysocki the founding drummer of Staind, later with Soil, and recently Lydia’s Castle has died. He passed away on Saturday, May 18th, and was just 53 years old. Before his death he had reportedly been having issues with his liver that required him to be under the care of medical professionals. Wysocki’s death was confirmed by his bandmates in Lydia’s Castle on social media, which you can see below. Soil also released a statement about their former bandmate. Wysocki was the founding drummer of Staind, forming the group in 1995 with singer Aaron Lewis, guitarist Mike Mushok and bassist Johnny April. Considered the first proteges of Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit, the drummer stayed in the band until 2011 when he was fired during the making of their seventh studio album. Wysocki performed on Staind’s biggest hits from their first three major label albums Dysfunction (co-produced by Durst) (1999), Break The Cycle (2001) and 14 Shades of Grey (2003), all for Elektra Records with two Platinum and two gold certified records, boosting the band out of the Nu Metal genre and to chart topping success world-wide. RIP.  Continue reading →


CJ Snare, Frontman and Founder of Hard Rock Band Firehouse Has Died

Posted on by

Sad news as Carl “C.J.” Snare the co-founder frontman and singer of the Hard Rock/ Glam Metal band Firehouse has died. He was just 64 years old. CJ had taken a leave of absence from the band in 2023 for abdominal surgery, but passed away this weekend. The news was broken by his family, and shared by the band on their social media accounts CJ had been part of the band formed in 1984 in Richmond Virginia finally signing to Epic Records in 1989 out of North Carolina. They had huge hit songs in the genre, including “Reach For The Sky,” “Treat Me Bad,” “All She Wrote,” and of course, their signature power ballads “Love Of A Lifetime,” “I Live My Life For You,” and “When I Look Into Your Eyes.”  The band hadn’t had a resurgence of popularity in recent years after placing tracks in the hit movie The Wrestler, and the recent HBO superhero television series The Peacemaker starring John Cena. We send our sympathy and support out to CJ’s family and the Firehouse family as well.Continue reading →


Tony Clarkin, Guitarist and Leader of Magnum, Has Died

Posted on by

Tony Clarkin, guitarist, chief songwriter and leader of long running UK Hard Rock band Magnum, has died. He was 77. The news of his death comes just weeks after being diagnosed with a rare and incurable spinal condition. Magnum had already canceled its previously announced spring 2024 tour. Earlier today (Tuesday, January 9),Tony’s family released the following statement: “On behalf of the family it is with profound sadness that daughter Dionne Clarkin is sharing the news of the passing of Tony Clarkin. Following a short illness, he died peacefully surrounded by his girls on Sunday 7th January 2024…” Continue reading →


A Go Fund Me Campaign Has Been Launched by The Family of Late Twitching Tongues and Ghostemane Drummer Cayle Sain

Posted on by

Earlier this week,Twitching Tongues and Ghostemane drummer Cayle Sain died. No cause of death has been revealed so far. In the wake of his sudden passing his family launched a GoFundMe memorial fund

 

The news was originally shared in a statement from 197 Media, and confirmed by Twitching Tongues on social media. Bandmates, peers , and friends followed up by posting online tributes. With Twitching Tongues, Sain played on four recent releases including the acclaimed full-length Gaining Purpose Through Passionate Hatred (Metal Blade, 2018). In addition to his other bands, Sain was a past member of Betrayal, Downpresser, Fuming Mouth, God’s Hate, If I Die First, Mizery, and Troncale. RIP. Continue reading →