The news hit the Metal Community late Thursday en masse it seemed with the sad report that Slayer’s Jeff Hanneman had passed away. I was sitting in Duke’s Bar having a little bit of supper when my phone started blowing up with texts and emails about the news and some others asking if I could confirm what people were hearing. Sadly, this was indeed true and the bands official statement read as follows

“Slayer is devastated to inform that their bandmate and brother, Jeff Hanneman, passed away at about 11AM this morning near his Southern California home. Hanneman was in an area hospital when he suffered liver failure. He is survived by his wife Kathy, his sister Kathy and his brothers Michael and Larry, and will be sorely missed.”

Jeff Hanneman was born Jeffrey John Hanneman in 1964 and as many know full well was a founding member of the legendary Thrash Metal band Slayer. As a guitarist Hanneman was very influenced by the speed and pace of the Punk scene and this helped formulate the style that he would bring to a larger than life sense in the mighty Slayer. The diehard fans might not need a reminder of this but to take a piece from his Wikipedia entry “Hanneman had contributed both lyrical and musical material to every Slayer album and wrote the songs “Raining Blood”, “War Ensemble”, “South of Heaven”, “Seasons in the Abyss” and “Angel of Death”, which are played at almost every live Slayer show”. Sadly Jeff Hanneman would withdrew from his active touring schedule sometime in early 2011 after he contracted necrotizing fasciitis, which is a debilitating skin disorder. It was widely reported that this was the result of a spider bite that had happened while on tour somewhere in South America. By 2012, there were interviews with Tom Araya who had spoke of Jeff’s recovery from the disease but later in February 2013, Kerry King revealed that he was still dealing with continuing health problems that were keeping him from being an on tour active part of Slayer. When Jeff passed away yesterday morning it was in a hospital near his home and of liver failure but so far there is no information as to whether or not this initial disease had contributed to what caused his death. Whatever the case may be it is still a shame and was news that crushed the larger Heavy Metal community whether they be musicians or worldwide fans.

Personally speaking I got into Slayer much later than my friends did. I leaned more toward the glittery stuff for awhile but had a heavy band and they all really enjoyed Slayer. Once I started listening to it a little more at their suggestion I got much more into it. I technically started my listening exposure to the band with what they had on “Hell Awaits” but it would not be until “Seasons In The Abyss” that I would actually go out and buy my own Slayer music. These two shots in the memorial were shot by me of Jeff in concert with Slayer. One from 2006 and another from 2007. I did not shoot the band a lot but was glad I had the chance to in the end. Jeff Hanneman is a figure in Thrash Metal legend and one that will never ever be forgotten. May he Rest In Peace.

Memorial thoughts are always welcome on our postings of this nature. What did Jeff Hanneman mean to you as a Metal fan or even a musician. I will leave the comments open for your submissions.

Late last night I arrived home to the news reports that bassist Chi Cheng of The Deftones had passed away at age 42. The musician was involved in a terrible car accident in 2008 that left him in a semi-conscious state and while there were slight improvements to his condition over the years, in the end he lost the fight and has left this plane.

The band has not yet made a statement about this, but Chi’s Mother has left the following on the website that kept everyone up to date on his condition “Our dearest Family, This is the hardest thing to write to you. Your love and heart and devotion to Chi was unconditional and amazing. I know that you will always remember him as a giant of a man on stage with a heart for every one of you. He was taken to the emegency room and at 3 am today his heart just suddenly stopped. He left this world with me singing songs he liked in his ear. He fought the good fight.You stood by him sending love daily. He knew that he was very loved and never alone. I will write more later. I will be going through the oneloveforchi and any other information may not be reliable. If you have any stories or messages to share please send them to the onelove site. Please hold Mae and Ming and the siblings and especially Chi’s son, Gabriel in your prayers. It is so hard to let go. With great love and “Much Respect!” Mom J (and Chi)”

I admit that I have never historically followed what The Deftones do in the Metal realm but so many of my friends are in love with their sound so I had to make sure to put some sort of memorial posting together. We send out condolences to the worldwide friends and fans of Chi Cheng and most importantly the family who now has to come to grips with the sad end to a tragic tale. Rest in Peace Chi Cheng, your loved ones shall never forget you.

My apologies for the fans about getting this memorial brief online a few days later than planned but I have really been keeping a frenetic schedule this past week and unable to get a lot of things done. That being said, we just wanted to be sure that our readers knew that Hate’s bassist Slawek Archangielskij aka “Mortifier” had passed away. The Polish Blackened Death Metal band were actually on tour and the musician apparently went to bed and simply never woke up.  What a shame.

The band posted a statement which read: “At night 5th/6th April near a German town of Munchberg, our friend, best comrade and longtime bass player unexpectedly passed away. After the show in Stuttgart last night he went to sleep and never woke up. We found him lifeless early in the morning and immediately called an ambulance. He was reanimated, but to no avail. Results of S?awek’s autopsy should be known soon. In this situation, we decided to cancel the remaining shows and return home. We gave detailed testimonies to the German police. We are shocked and shattered by his sudden, unexpected death. We mourn together with Slawek’s family and friends. Adam, Konrad, Stanislaw, Daniel /HATE”

I only ever saw the band in action once and I think its because they had only been to these parts for that one tour with Mayhem. With that in mind we send condolences to his worldwide fans, friends, and family and share the gallery that was posted for that show HERE.

This has been a terrible week of news in our region and sadly I must continue the process by informing our readers that Mitch Lucker, lead singer of Suicide Silence has died. His death comes from injuries that were sustained during a motorcycle accident – He was 29 years of age and he leaves behind a wife and daughter, his band mates of many years and his worldwide support of fans. Clearly he will be missed.

On behalf of the PiercingMetal site, we send condolences to all who loved him and thank him for the music that he gave his fans and the world. Rest In Peace Mitchell.

UPDATE 11/7/2012: A fund has been set up in order to help his daughter’s education going forward and fans can investigate that by clicking this link: http://www.suicidesilence.net/donate/ Those who donate $20 or more will receive a special memorial shirt for their kindness.

Time flies doesn’t it? Perhaps I said that last year when the first anniversary came to pass. I think that I might have and while I was initially on the fence about posting a two year reflection about the passing of Ronnie James Dio, when the day started out I decided that I should. Let’s face it. Ronnie James Dio became one of the most important figures in Heavy Metal music ever. Without question or controversy, he was the man, and one of the most visible champions of the genre that we have ever had in our corner. His death crushed many and he is missed every single day by his worldwide legions of fans. Since he passed away a whole lot of stuff has popped up in terms of releases or bands touring in his memory. We’ve found unreleased classic shows and limited edition vinyl releases along with special edition versions of some of his work with Rainbow, Elf and of course Dio. A Tribute To Dio band called “Dio Disciples” tours with Ripper Owens at the helm and now a new band that features members of Dio’s first solo touring band are working on unleashing their own thing and I am sure that we have not seen nothing yet.

Ronnie James Dio (1942-2010)

Since Ronnie’s death another interesting development was the proposed reunion of the original members of Black Sabbath but now that seems to be a questionable project since it no longer involves the founding Bill Ward. I know that Geezer and Tony didn’t want to continue on with Heaven And Hell without Ronnie at the helm, but I so wish they would have just opted to find someone who would do proper respect to the man and his memory and let these tunes be heard night after night in live concert instead of only being pulled out of the DVD cabinet every now and again. Still I am glad I own the catalog items that I have and I was so glad to have taken photos of him in concert a few times when the means allowed me to do so. Those are my memories. What are your own?

Clicking the photo above will take you to the original memorial blog posting that ran on PiercingMetal Musings the day that Ronnie passed away. I chose to present it to you in this manner as opposed to just making it a “sticky” on the top of the other posts. Please note that the comments have been closed on this particular posting but you can leave any thoughts you might have about Dio on the original memorial piece if you so desire. We welcome your own thoughts about his memory and his continuing influence upon the Heavy Metal scene. So many of us miss him still and wonder how the last two years in Metal might have been had he not been ill or at least been able to recover. Oh well. There is nothing we can do to change the outcome that we got, but let’s blast the Metal music a little bit louder today and never ever forget what Dio gave to us for so many decades of his life.

Thirty years ago today the Heavy Metal music scene lost one of its most inspiring and acclaimed guitar players. Yep, if you are old enough to remember this event happening, it has been thirty years since Randy Rhoads was killed in a tragic and altogether stupid, unnecessary accident. He was twenty five years old at the time of his death.

While I realize that I am dating myself, I will admit to the first time hearing Randy play was when I was turned onto the “Blizzard Of Ozz” album that had just come out. My Metal and Rock friends used to regularly convene at the local record shops and my neighborhood had two of them. We had Record Factory and the Little Record Store and while the first one was the larger supplier of stuff, the smaller shop always seemed to have the Metal stuff there a little earlier than the others. When you listened to Randy do what he could do on the guitar you were instantly floored. It was so good, and so interesting and for its time so very, very unique. It was another case of the musicians doing something that was not often done at this time, and we had experienced something similar only a few years ago when the first Van Halen album had come out.

Back in these bygone years everyone was paying attention to the Ozzy debut release and its followup “Diary Of A Madman”, well if you were a Metal head that is, and these became a very important albums in the collections of so many fans based on how hard it hit us and just how solid and strong the playing was across the board. The depth of guitar work we heard Randy doing instantly inspired legions of guitar players and resultant of that the instructors of the time had their work cut out for them as many students showed up wanting to learn “what Randy was doing”. His creativity surely gave them a run for their money and made them earn the lesson fees that they were charging.

It’s very easy to decry the incident that took Randy’s life and let’s face it, it was an absolutely foolish and stupid prank that went horribly wrong and not only killed the the talented musician but also two other people in the process. Rock and roll mayhem does sometimes come at a terrible cost when fueled by alcohol and other substances. What a shame. It’s the kind of story that ends the musical chapter far too early where Randy was concerned and one has to wonder what kind of music that he would b delivering in this day and age had he still been alive and even performing for that matter. The adult Ken feels that he would not be playing anything even resembling Metal at this time as he very likely would have felt that he had done all that could be accomplished for the genre. Perhaps he would have gone Classical or even Progressive Rock or maybe just became an in demand studio session player or respected producer. Sadly we shall never know and the “What If” case scenario is something that only plays out in the comic books. What a shame.

Last year Epic Records re-released two incredible remasters of the first two albums by Ozzy Osbourne that nothing short of “must have in my collection” pieces. They feature bonus tracks and expanded artwork and the special edition of “Diary” even gives us an unreleased live concert that staggers the Metal senses. I’ve placed links for your perusal below.

Let’s never forget Randy’s musical and Metal memory, especially today. Thanks for the music that you left us with Mr. Rhoads, I hope you are watching what it has set in motion since you left.

Wow. I had to say that I really didn’t expect this news to be the case even though the Metal Republic and I had been informed about the critical shape that guitarist Mark Reale was in when I attended the New York City based band Riot’s gig last week at B.B. King’s. The band had recently released the album “Immortal Soul” and it’s been receiving some really great reviews and while I still need to get a copy and focus my thoughts on it, I had to say that I really enjoyed what the band did live. The guitarist had been suffering from Crohn’s disease for most of his life and even though he was often in considerable pain according to press reports, he would press on and perform for his fans again and again. Shortly before the tour began it was reported how Mark was in the hospital in critical condition based on complications from his illness but the band would press on in his name and not let the fans down. Singer Tony Moore had us remaining hopefully but few actually knew that the guitarist was actually in a coma all this time since January 11th.

My exposure to Riot was limited at best and yet everything that I ever heard I seemed to like. It’s almost funny for me to wonder why I was never following them before or outside of the one album that I owned. That just happens sometimes because there really is a ton of Metal and Hard Rock to enjoy if you choose to expand your horizons past Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. If you love the heavy side of things and cannot move past those legends I strongly suggest you try because its a wonderful world. Despite Mark’s absence from the appearance, the show that I attended was nothing less than kick ass and I was very hopeful that he would be able to pull through and be rocking for his fans once again. Sadly this would not be the case and the dire complications from this illness would take him from us. He was 56 years of age.

Mark Reale was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1955 and his love of the artists of the day would lead him to form Riot in 1975. The band became a staple on the New York City Hard Rock and Metal scene and throughout the bands often tumultuous lineup shifts he would remain its sole original member from their first album “Rock City” until their 2011 release “Immortal Soul”. There are seventeen albums in total available on labels like Metal Blade Records, Epic Records, Capitol Music and SPV Records so the new and legacy fans really have their purchase work ahead of them if they do not have a complete set of their catalog. The question remains as to whether or not the band shall continue on without him, because he was not only the founding member but also the only one left who was touring with them at this point in music history. I’d like to keep positive because this was such a good show and the band has numerous killer tunes. Of course I also have my doubts about it as do many other fans in media. It’s hard enough for newer in the public eye regularly bands to keep going on much less a legacy group that has just lost its founder. Only time will tell right?

On behalf of the PiercingMetal brand name I send sincere and heartfelt condolences out to Mark’s worldwide fans, friends, band mates and of course his loved ones. He really did some good for the Metal scene and his music shall live on forever. Rest in Peace Mark Reale.

Official Riot Website: http://www.riotrockcity.com
Mark Reale’s Wikipedia Entry HERE.
Learn more about Crohn’s Disease via this Wikipedia Entry HERE.

They say time flies and I have to say that it really does.   I agree with the statement for a number of reasons and today its more based on the fact that I cannot believe how twenty years have gone by since the music world lost the presence of the mighty Eric Carr who passed away on this day in 1991.  As most Hard Rock and Metal fans know, Eric Carr (born Paul Caravello) was the second drummer in the band KISS and had replaced their founding member Peter Criss in 1980.  By the time 1980 had come around I was already a KISS fan for a number of years and I had just started to find an interest in the drums myself.  Peter was an initial inspiration but Eric Carr became the one who I was most taken with for some reason.  I guess it was because he was bringing something new and different and perhaps even a little more exciting to the group that I publicly declared as my favorite of them all.

As a member of KISS Eric recorded “Music From The Elder”, “Killers”, “Creatures Of The Night”, “Lick It Up”, “Animalize”, “Asylum”, “Hot In The Shade” and “Revenge” (one song).  He’s also been featured in a large amount of the bands videos from these albums and on the bands extensive compilation packages.   If you own any of these releases you will have to agree that KISS had some new life breathed into them when Eric sat on the drum throne.   There was just “a way” about him that everyone seemed to love.   His masked man role in KISS was The Fox even though he was originally supposed to be The Hawk.  Trust me folks The Fox worked which you will agree with me on if you ever see photos of the proposed Hawk costume.  Yikes.

Here’s a great shot of Eric sans the Fox makeup of course leaning over his massive kit during the “Asylum” tour if memory serves me correctly.  I’ll admit that when it came to enjoying his presence in the band, half of it was wondering what kind of cool drum set he was going to showcase and what kind of slamming they would get during the show.  Well, at least for me this was the case.   I was so affected by his creations in terms of kits that I became a Ludwig drummer myself and even built a set up of many different components.   Bands did that to a lot of people I knew back in the day.

Sadly Eric would fall ill in early 1991 and be diagnosed as having the very rare heart cancer.  While it had seemed he would eventually recover from this after operations he would suffer an aneurysm that would lead to a brain hemorrhage and his eventual death at aged 41.  Before he died he would appear in the KISS video for “God Gave Rock and Roll To You”.  Strangely enough, the music world would also lose the great Freddie Mercury from Queen on the same day.  What a terrible day huh.    Looking back I have to say that I still miss him and sometimes wonder just what else he might have delivered to the fans had he recovered or never gotten ill in the first place.  A big “What If” case scenario like we find in the comic books.  Too bad that sort of thing is just a fantasy and we are left with the music he left us with and the empty space.  Since I’ve been offering up memorial thoughts in the PiercingMetal blog when we lose someone of note, I just felt like making some kind of tribute for him here based on how important he was to so very many people.   I still miss him to this very day because of how much he influenced me.  I guess I will be playing those KISS albums and of course some Queen to honor Freddie today as well.  I think you readers should do some of the same so get cracking.

Eric Carr Official Website HERE.

Learn more about Eric Carr the man and musician via his Wikipedia entry HERE.

While attending the NYC performance by Mayhem last night I suddenly noticed a large amount of emails and texts asking me if I knew what happened with the band GWAR and their guitarist. Sadly I hadn’t and did an immediate search thanks to the trusty Droid phone and learned the sad news about their guitarist Cory Smoot aka Flattus Maximus”. The musician had been found dead in his bunk on the bus by the other members of the band, he was 34 years of age and had been in the lineup for about ten years to my knowledge. No cause of death was disclosed at the time of this posting.

Despite my greatly enjoying their visual antics on the stage I had only seen GWAR three times over the course of my life and two of those instances allowed me to witness Cory’s character Flattus as he did his thing. I can say that he was a solid player and one that brought a lot of good to the lineup and the shenanigans happening up on the boards. He will very surely be missed by the fans and we send condolences to his family, band mates and the worldwide supporters of the band.

An official press statement that came from band leader Dave Brockie or Oderus Urungus to the world said that “Out of respect to Cory, we have officially retired the character of Flattus Maximus. Flattus has decided to return to his beloved “Planet Home”, and will never return to this mudball planet again. And this is a sadder place for that”.

It’s with great sadness that we must once again add to the Hard Rock and Heavy Metal obituary postings as just this evening, singer Jani Lane (most famously known for being in the Glam band Warrant) was found dead in his hotel room. He was 47 years old.  TMZ.com seemed to be the first to report the news and then it spread like a wildfire across the Hard Rock and Metal websites and found shock and sadness being delivered by numerous Twitter accounts of music’s most influential people.

Jani Lane was born John Kennedy Oswald on February 1, 1964 and came into the largest public prominence with his band Warrant during the tail end of Glam Metal’s rule in 1988. I will admit to not really being interested in the band when they started invading the video network of MTV because I was more intrigued by heavier stuff, but when I had the chance to reflect upon their first couple of albums in the remastered format many years later had to say that there was a certain quality to them that others sorely lacked. Lane was a troubled sort in terms of the public life we got to see on shows like “Celebrity Fit Club” where his seemingly endless battle with alcohol addiction appeared to be an unstoppable force in his life. In interviews he seemed to hate being referred to as “The Cherry Pie guy” as he felt he amounted to more than that in life, and as an observer looking in on that statement, I always felt he should have been happy that this particular song brought so much attention to his work and happiness to his fans. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side and there was likely a lot of distress brought on by this kind of fame.  He would later recant the statement about the tune saying how the interview caught him on an off day and he did like how it keeps being played so many years later.

Lane married Bobbie Brown (from the “Cherry Pie” video) in 1991 and the pair had a daughter (Taylar Jayne Lane). They divorced in 1993. The cause of Lane’s death have not been publicly disclosed at the time of this writing but I am sure that we shall learn them soon enough. The Internet has a way of making things that would never go around come out very quickly. I did know that the singer recently taped an episode of Eddie Trunk’s “That Metal Show” for VH1 Classic and this will air when the season begins its run in the early Fall. Sadly, I never had the opportunity to see Warrant in concert when he reunited with the band or when he performed with Great White during Jack Russel’s recovery from surgery. I would have liked to had done that. On behalf of the PiercingMetal site and its creative team I wish consolation and healing to Jani’s family, friends and numerous devoted fans. He made his mark on a genre for sure and he shall be missed by many. Rest in Peace Jani Lane, many thanks for some truly memorable tunes.

PiercingMetal.com has reviewed some of the Warrant catalog of releases and those can be perused HERE.

Learn more about Jani Lane’s life via his Wikipedia entry HERE.