Veteran metal guitarist Ralph Santolla passed away.
He was best known for playing in Obituary, Deicide, Iced Earth, Death, and others fell into a coma after suffering a heart attack on May 30th, according to a Facebook post written by his mother, Sue Santolla-Rocha. The musician was surviving with the help of artificial life support. But, on June 6th, Ralph was taken off life support, like it was announced by his son Dorian Angelo Santolla in a separate post.
Sue Santolla-Rocha announced in her Facebook wall that the guitarist is no longer with us. The family decided to continue Ralph’s legacy by making him an organ donor.
About Ralph Santolla
Born in 1969, Santolla was a part of several legendary bands on a on-and-off basis, most notably the death-metal veterans Deicide, with whom he recorded and toured from 2005-2011, as well as Millennium, Obituary, and Sebastian Bach. His touring portfolio is also impressive: over more than 20 years, the Italian-American axeman performed with Death, Iced Earth, Melechesh, and Vital Remains.
In addition to the aforementioned bands, Santolla was involved with other side projects such as Memorial, Serpent Seduced Eye, Redscream; he also formed a supergroup, Devil’s Highway, with members of Crowbar, Dimmu Borgir, Testament, and more. Santolla-Rocha says the band’s debut album was still in-progress at the time of her son’s death, noting in today’s Facebook post that she hopes to release that material posthumously.
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