Greyhawk returns with their third album of classic heavy metal

Greyhawk

Warriors of Greyhawk

Cruz Del Sur Music

13 February 2026

I have been enjoying the new album by Seattle heavy metal gladiators Greyhawk. It delivers 11 songs in 50 minutes of high-octane, stadium-sized heavy metal anthems and rockers. Hurry up and come get you some Greyhawk heavy metal pronto! Friend, Greyhawk has one mission clearly marked all over their music: they value making quality, catchy, headbanging heavy metal with awesome guitar solos, riffs, and melodies that fans of both great singing and shredding will remember.

My wish is for the heavy metal fans of the world to hear the quality music we have right here in Washington State. I am sure they will like it. Put this album in a boxing ring against any negative reviewer, and it will deliver a body shot and a devastating right hook to the ribs. Without even resetting its feet, this album will immediately sneak in a right uppercut under the chin. It’s over. Greyhawk wins!

I'm loving the work of the rhythm section, the bass lines are bouncing, and the guitar work is awesome. Let me tell you something about Greyhawk’s guitars: shredding, neoclassical flair, melody, speed, agility, power, and vibe; it’s all on deck. These two guitarists are seriously skilled, experienced, and knowledgeable players. Greyhawk is starting to feel like a well-kept secret: a veritable supergroup flying under the radar. Plus, fans who want real singing —powerful and elegant!— should be pleased. You get low-register vocals, and a strong midrange, and air-raid-siren segments, and glass-shattering high notes. This album also sounds pretty nice in the car.

1. Ascension 04:16

2. Land of Ashes 03:27

3. Take a Stand 03:34

4. Endless Race 04:08

5. Warriors of Greyhawk 06:15

6. Words of Power 03:44

7. Chosen 04:18

8. Hyperspace 04:03

9. Embers Rise 03:36

10. Rise Above 06:12

11. Eternal Quest 06:04

total time 49:37

Darin Wall - bass (2016-present) [88 Mile Trip, Entropia, Glyph, Vantera (Pantera tribute), ex-Aggression, ex-Skelator, ex-Mecha Messiah, ex-Stiff Valentine, ex-Saints in Hell (Judas Priest tribute) (live)]

Jesse Berlin - guitars (2016-present) [Archmage]

Nate Butler - drums (2017-present)

Rob Steinway - guitars (2023-present) [Glyph, Hjelvik, ex-Inquinok, ex-Shaded Enmity, ex-Skelator, ex-Somnae (live), ex-Funeral Age, ex-Evangelist, ex-Fallen Angels, ex-In Memorium]

Anthony Corso - vocals (2024-present)

Warriors Of Greyhawk by Greyhawk

back to the future in 2004 - DEMON HUNTER - "Not Ready to Die"

"This is a song I've heard 2600 times. Im STILL not tired of it. It rocks!" -YouTube commenter zneely1113

After their tremendous 2002 self-titled debut album, Demon Hunter stepped up to the plate with a new sound on 2004's Summer of Darkness. To me, the debut captured a young, hungry band playing heavy, intense, and brutal sounds in which various American and European currents converged. Raw, loud, and unhinged, the album featured a harsh, "charging-rhino" energy that connected with fans.

"Not Ready to Die" is the first song on Summer of Darkness.

In my opinion, Summer of Darkness represents a new turn, a new adventure, if you will. There is a cliché that all bands have a lifetime to work on their debut album. What about this second album and the feared sophomore slump? Right away, I notice a certain sharpness and melodicism that catches my attention. Speaking for myself, I certainly don't hear a reduction in quality, but I don't know what the consensus was among critics back in 2004 regarding the album.

It is surprising how much more pronounced the melodic side of the songwriting has become. What accounts for this increased melodicism? Touring must have given them more experience and skills; working and sweating in front of an audience can do wonders for a band's abilities!

Right from the get-go, my ears tell me the sound is clearer. Wasting no time, they flex their skills on "Not Ready to Die." The intensity and high energy remain intact, but the melodic side, with singing, is loud and upfront: confident, full, and vibrant. The track features mid-range growls and heavy, chugging riffs paired with a catchy, melodic chorus. It feels big, direct, and anthemic. I find that the song continues playing in my mind long after it ends.

Years later, fans still love the track. Around the year 2020, a person on YouTube observed about this particular song: "When I was curled up in the back of my Explorer, detoxing myself off opiates, I had this song on repeat in my CD player. Now, with 7 years clean on July 30th, I was listening to it again. I will always give credit to this song for helping me get through that time.."

If metal bands love to glorify death (and you know they do!) because apparently nothing says "metal" like obsessively writing about death and the devil, then Demon Hunter is throwing a monkey wrench into the gears by affirming life and rejecting nihilism: "The weight of the world is a burden I've carried / The ashes of hope in a life that is buried / I'm looking for light in the heart of the shadow / A reason to fight in the heat of the battle ....I'm not ready to leave it all behind / I'm holding on to the life that I've known/ I'm standing my ground, and I'm not alone / I'm not ready to die."

By the way, how about that quiet segment of the song? The song transitions into a nice quiet segment, a really good contrast, beginning at 3:12 and just when you think you are already enjoying the quiet part of the song, there is an even quieter moment at 3:54-4:01. Whoah. So good; another surprise. They took the quiet right to the edge of silence.

"Not Ready to Die" is such a great start to the album. As they say in basketball: fantastic.

Demon Hunter

Summer of Darkness

Solid State

May 4, 2004

1. "Not Ready to Die" 5:03

2. "The Awakening" 4:11

3. "Beheaded" (featuring Mike Williams) 3:14

4. "My Heartstrings Come Undone[a][b]" 4:37

5. "Our Faces Fall Apart" (featuring Howard Jones) 4:51

6. "Less Than Nothing" 2:57

7. "Summer of Darkness" 3:10

8. "Beauty Through the Eyes of a Predator" (featuring Brock Lindow) 5:32

9. "Annihilate the Corrupt" 4:08

10. "I Play Dead" 5:20

11. "Everything Was White" 3:54

12. "Coffin Builder" (featuring Trevor McNevan) 4:01

13. "The Latest and the Last" 3:44

Demon Hunter "Not Ready To Die" (Official Music Video)

https://www.facebook.com/demonhunter

Pete Hurley (RIP 2014) - Extreme Noise Terror

Pete Hurley - guitarist for Extreme Noise Terror (? - January 29, 2014)

Pete Hurley’s time with Extreme Noise Terror (1985-present) is one of my favorite eras of the band, specifically for that classic crust-grindcore sound. He was with them from 1985-1995. He played guitar on the seminal 1989 album A Holocaust in Your Head, a recording defined by lo-fi, raw production and a relentless D-beat focus. Pete’s playing style centered on massive, memorable riffs that complemented the dual-vocal bark of Dean Jones and Phil Vane. I also like his work on the John Peel Sessions recorded between 1987 and 1990, which captured a high-energy, "live-in-studio" feel. In the 1990s, Pete transitioned toward a heavier and more structured sound, notably on the 1995 album Retro-bution, which featured tighter technicality and more polished production values. Despite this shift into a more metallic sound, Pete maintained the dirty distortion of the guitar sound.

Extreme Noise Terror (ENT) are a British extreme metal band formed in Ipswich, England in 1985 and one of the earliest and most influential crust bands. Noted for one of the earliest uses of dual vocalists in hardcore and for recording a number of sessions for BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, the band started as crust punks and helped characterise the early, archetypal grindcore sound with highly political lyrics, fast guitars and tempos, and often very short songs.

Extreme Noise Terror were formed in early 1985 in Ipswich, England, originally consisting of dual vocalists Dean Jones and Phil Vane, guitarist Pete Hurley, bassist Jerry Clay and drummer Pig Killer. Prior to ENT, Vane and Hurley had played with Discharge-influenced acts Freestate and Victims of War, whilst Jones had been singing with Raw Noise. Hurley claims that the band name came from an insert for an album by the Dutch band Lärm. Aside from Discharge, the band cite as early influences Anti Cimex, Rattus and Antisect.

Their first release was a split LP with Chaos UK in 1986, entitled Radioactive Earslaughter. Although there were still musical similarities between the two bands, ENT were already beginning to twist hardcore into what would later become known as "grindcore." In 1987, ENT came to the attention of John Peel. After seeing them live in Ipswich, Peel offered them their first of four Peel Sessions for BBC Radio 1.

During this period, the line-up changed as former Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris joined briefly before being replaced by Tony "Stick" Dickens. This line-up recorded ENT's debut album, A Holocaust in Your Head, which was later voted one of the essential European grindcore albums by Terrorizer magazine.

The band signed to Earache in 1994 and recorded Retro-bution, a compilation of re-recorded material that saw ENT take a slightly more metal direction. Founder member Phil Vane left to join Napalm Death in late 1996, and in a unique trade, Napalm Death frontman Mark "Barney" Greenway joined ENT for the recording of the album Damage 381. Vane eventually returned to the band in 1997.

In 2001, the band released Being and Nothing and continued to tour Europe, including a slot at Wacken Open Air in 2003.

In early 2009, ENT released Law of Retaliation, described as a return to explosive, hyper-speed hardcore punk insanity. While remaining fiercely political, the band became more open-minded regarding their beliefs over the years, with Dean Jones commenting on the progression away from the restrictive nature of the early crust scene.

On 17 February 2011, Phil Vane died in his sleep at the age of 46. The band has continued to tour and release music with frontman Ben McCrow, dedicating their 2015 self-titled album to Vane's memory.

Extreme Noise Terror - Conned Through Life (Peel Sessions) [Official Audio]

Extreme Noise Terror - I Am a Bloody Fool (Peel Sessions) [Official Audio]

Extreme Noise Terror - Carry On Screaming

Blue Cheer - Parchment Farm

Blue Cheer – Demo/sessions – KSAN-FM 1967

Geoff Nicholls (Black Sabbath) - (1948–2017)

Geoff Nicholls (February 28, 1948 – January 28, 2017)

When heavy metal music fans think of Black Sabbath, they may not think of Geoff Nicholls, but they know Geoff without perhaps being aware that they do. For instance, fans that have copies of Black Sabbath's Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules know that Geoff is not in the band pictures; however, when you turn your attention to the album sleeve or CD sleeve to read the personnel information, you will definitely notice the line:

"All keyboards played by Geoff Nicholls."

Later on in the history of Black Sabbath, in the 1980s after Ronnie James Dio left, Geoff's contributions to Black Sabbath were showcased more prominently. During that period, Geoff's work gave those wonderful albums a smooth richness and an extra melodic atmosphere that the more attentive fans have appreciated throughout the years.

Below you will find the Wikipedia and Blabbermouth articles about Geoff, and an article by a friend of Geoff.

Geoffrey James Nicholls (February 28, 1948 – January 28, 2017) was an English guitarist and keyboardist, and longtime member of Black Sabbath until 2004. Nicholls also played in the NWOBHM band Quartz before joining Black Sabbath. In the 1960s/early 1970s, Geoff played lead guitar/Keyboards for the Birmingham bands The Boll Weevils, The Seed, Johnny Neal and the Starliners, Bandy Legs, Jimmy Helms, Willie Basse and played keyboards for World of Oz (an English psychedelic pop band from the 1960s).

Nicholls was originally brought in as a second guitarist when Black Sabbath doubted whether they would even continue under that name. Nicholls then switched to bass when Geezer Butler left briefly, and then became the band's keyboardist upon Butler's return and the decision to keep the Sabbath name. Nicholls' first appearance on a Black Sabbath album was on Heaven and Hell (1980), and he was credited as keyboardist on every Sabbath release from that time until Forbidden (1995), although he was not an official member until 1986. He remained an official member until 1991, then regained member status from 1993 to 1996. He was an unofficial member once again since the reunion with Ozzy Osbourne in 1997. Although his main role with Sabbath was on the keyboard, Nicholls also played some rhythm guitar on the reunion tours, e.g., during Iommi's solo in "Snowblind" and a few tracks during the Headless Cross (1989) and Forbidden (1995) tours.

Nicholls' touring involvement with the band ended when Adam Wakeman (a member of Ozzy Osbourne's solo band) was chosen to play keyboards during Sabbath's 2004 and 2005 tours as part of Ozzfest, and Scott Warren (Dio) handled keyboard duties on the 2007 Heaven & Hell tour. Until his death, Nicholls played keyboards with former Black Sabbath singer Tony Martin, in his band Tony Martin's Headless Cross. Nicholls had performed on Martin's first two solo albums Back Where I Belong and Scream, and their support tours.

Nicholls died from lung cancer on 28 January 2017, aged 68, surrounded by his family. "Geoff was a real true friend and supported me all the way for nearly forty years," said Tony Iommi. "I will miss him dearly and he will live in my heart until we meet again."

-

Former BLACK SABBATH Keyboardist GEOFF NICHOLLS Dies After Battle With Lung Cancer January 28, 2017

Former BLACK SABBATH keyboardist Geoff Nicholls died this morning after a long battle with lung cancer. He was 68 years old.

Nicholls's passing was confirmed by SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi, who wrote about his former bandmate: "I'm so saddened to hear the loss of one of my dearest and closest friends Geoff Nicholls. He's been suffering for a while now with lung cancer and he lost his battle this morning. Geoff and I have always been very close and he has been a real true friend to me and supported me all the way for nearly 40 years. I will miss him dearly and he will live in my heart until we meet again. Rest in peace, my dear friend."

Added SABBATH bassist Geezer Butler: "Very sad to hear of old friend and SABBATH keyboard player Geoff Nicholls passing. RIP Geoff."

Said SABBATH singer Ozzy Osbourne: "Geoff Nicholls was a great friend of mine for a long time. He will be greatly missed. I'm very saddened at the news."

Nicholls, who played keyboards on all of SABBATH's albums between 1980 and 1995 and toured with them, was reportedly in remission from cancer at the time of his death but succumbed to the side effects of chemotherapy.

Nicholls's first appearance on a SABBATH album was on 1980's "Heaven And Hell". Although his main role with SABBATH was on the keyboard, Nicholls also played some rhythm guitar at concerts. In addition to not always being credited as a full member of the band, Nicholls rarely appeared on stage during SABBATH shows and would instead play on the side of the stage or backstage.

Nicholls's involvement with the band ended when Adam Wakeman (a member of Ozzy Osbourne's solo band) was chosen to play keyboards during SABBATH's 2004 and 2005 tours as part of Ozzfest.

Nicholls also played keyboards with former BLACK SABBATH singer Tony Martin in his band TONY MARTIN'S HEADLESS CROSS and performed on both of Martin's solo albums.

Martin said: "Saddened to hear of the passing of Geoff Nicholls... keyboard player and friend from SABBATH. Safe journey, mate."

Before joining BLACK SABBATH, Nicholls was member of the NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) band QUARTZ, whose 1977 debut album was produced by Iommi. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Geoff played lead guitar for the Birmingham band JOHNNY NEAL AND THE STARLINERS.

"I'm so saddened to hear the loss of one of my dearest and closest friends Geoff Nicholls. He's been suffering for a while now with lung cancer and he lost his battle this morning. Geoff and I have always been very close and he has been a real true friend to me and supported me all the way for nearly 40 years. I will miss him dearly and he will live in my heart until we meet again. Rest In Peace my dear friend."

Tony

-

Reflections on Geoff Nicholls

JANUARY 28, 2017 BY JOE

Today has been an odd day for me. I woke up to an email from Tony Iommi’s management telling me that Geoff Nicholls had died. After I got the word out there, I started contacting others. Former Black Sabbath band mates, and other people I knew that knew Geoff. One of which was Jamie Mallender. Jamie played with Geoff in Tony Martin’s solo band some years back. The last time time Tony Martin put out a solo album (Scream), Jamie played bass on the tour and live shows around that time. So Jamie knew Geoff well. Tonight after a gig that Jamie played, he shared a very awesome reflection on Geoff and his time with him. This is an great story, take some time to read it, it was most kind of Jamie to share. All the pictures come from Jamie as well.

Geoff Nicholls. 28.02.1948. – 28.01.2017.

Musician, Funny Man and Friend.

When I was a teenager and suddenly all I was interested in was music, Ozzy Osbourne was a solo artist and Black Sabbath had Tony Martin on vocals and of course, Geoff Nicholls was the invaluable offstage extra band member. So to me, that was what Black Sabbath sounded like. Tracks like The Shining and Headless Cross, resplendent with the gloss Geoff’s musicianship brought to the band were always on my stereo at that time. I discovered the other Sabbath stuff later. So for me, to suddenly get to be in a band with Tony Martin and Geoff Nicholls and be up there, playing those songs on tour on stages all over the world was like a dream come true. Now, they say you should never meet your heroes, and I’ve met many of mine, even worked with some of them. But I can tell you truthfully that knowing and working with a Geoff was nothing but a pleasure. Geoff was a big hearted, kind guy – a big softy. He loved music and he loved to make people laugh. The jokes never seemed to stop coming, he could really be the life and soul and if he wasn’t joking around he was telling us one of his many many road stories. Sometimes I really wanted him to shut up because my sides were hurting.

People tend to think of Geoff as a keyboard player, but essentially, he was musician. He could turn his hand to a lot of different instruments, he could sing, he had an amazing ear, he was a great writer – and he did it all with and endearing humility. It didn’t matter who he’d worked with, he was just Geoff.

Danny Needham and I once spent a day at Geoff’s where he fed us and showed us some music he’d been working on for a TV show, beautifully constructed instrumental stuff. He showed us some of his old instruments, platinum disks and tour shirts from old tours. He also told us about some of the pitfalls of the industry and gave us some advice of how to survive when the nasty stuff happens. And when Danny and I headed off into the city at night to sample a few beers, he gave us directions and a key, and told us to be careful like a loving parent.

When the band ceased to be, Geoff and I kept in touch with the occasional e-mail or phone call. He sent me funny stuff and always asked after my family. He used to remind me that Birmingham wasn’t actually that far from Sheffield and that if I was playing out that way I should call for a cuppa and a catch up. I always said I would and of course, I intended to. But I’m sad to say that I never got on with it. When you’re in about 15 bands and you’ve got kids and responsibilities it’s always next time I’m out this way…. Next time I’ll make sure I make time. There’s a lesson to be learned there.

When you’re on the road with a band, there are always experiences you share that result in certain catchphrases, band sayings and maybe in-jokes. When we were in a restaurant with Geoff, he would always ask (no matter what the meal was) for some chips (fries) with it, orange Fanta and ketchup. I think he had ketchup on just about everything. Whenever Danny and I speak of Geoff we always say, “can I have some fries with that,” or simply shout, “ketchup!” I dunno, maybe that’s not even mildly amusing to read, but if you’d ever been on the road with Geoff it would be. So anyway, another stellar musician has left us. I wish I’d known him longer, I wish I’d worked with him more, I wish I’d called for a cuppa. My life was very much enriched for having known him. I thought of Geoff onstage tonight with The John Verity Band. We were playing, “The Devils Music,” from the “My Religion” album. I remember when I recorded the bass, thinking Geoff would have really liked that line. Anyway, goodbye Captain Ketchup, you’ll be sadly missed. So raise a glass to Geoff people, stick Headless Cross on and pay your respects.

Jamie Mallender 28.01.2017.

Black Sabbath - Die Young

Black Sabbath - The Shining (Official Audio)

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Today is Tuesday, January 27, 2026 - International Holocaust Remembrance Day. People around the world observe this day to honor the six million Jewish victims and the millions of others murdered by the Nazi regime.

The International Holocaust Remembrance Day is an international memorial day on 27 January that commemorates the victims of the Holocaust: The genocide of one-third of the Jewish people in Europe, and countless numbers of individuals of other minority groups, by Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945. This date was chosen because it marks the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in 1945.

The Jewish people were the primary target of the Holocaust. Other groups were also victims: Jehovah’s Witnesses, Roma (Gypsies), homosexuals, people with disabilities, Slavic peoples, trade unionists, socialists and others were imprisoned in concentration camps or killed during the Holocaust.

Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day): This is the day observed primarily in Israel and by Jewish communities worldwide. Its date varies based on the Hebrew calendar. In 2026, it will begin at sundown on Monday, April 13, and end at nightfall on Tuesday, April 14.

RUSH - Red Sector A" (from the 1984 Grace Under Pressure)

[This song was inspired by Geddy Lee’s mother, a concentration camp survivor: this is a portrayal of life inside a concentration camp.]

All that we can do is just survive

All that we can do to help ourselves is stay alive

Ragged lines of ragged grey

Skeletons, they shuffle away

Shouting guards and smoking guns

Will cut down the unlucky ones

I clutch the wire fence until my fingers bleed

A wound that will not heal

A heart that cannot feel

Hoping that the horror will recede

Hoping that tomorrow we'll all be freed

Sickness to insanity

Prayer to profanity

Days and weeks and months go by

Don't feel the hunger

Too weak to cry

I hear the sound of gunfire at the prison gate

Are the liberators here?

Do I hope or do I fear?

For my father and my brother, it's too late

But I must help my mother stand up straight

Are we the last ones left alive?

Are we the only human beings to survive?

RUSH - Red Sector A

EDDIE VAN HALEN - born on January 26th, 1955

Edward Lodewijk Van Halen (January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020)

Born in Amsterdam to Jan (a Dutch jazz musician) and Eugenia (an Indonesian woman from Java), Eddie and his family moved to Pasadena, California, in 1962. Arriving with just $50 and a piano, Eddie and his brother Alex didn't speak English and were often bullied as "minority" students. They found their voice through music, though not in the way their parents expected.

Eddie was a child prodigy, but a rebellious one. Although he began piano at age six and won three consecutive competitions at Long Beach City College (1964–1967), he never actually learned to read music. Instead, he would watch his teacher's hands during recitals of Bach and Mozart and simply improvise by ear. While his parents hoped for a classical career, Eddie was captivated by the "British Invasion." His world was blown wide open by bands like The Beatles, The Dave Clark Five, and especially the "mind-blowing" sounds of Cream.

In a twist that changed music history, the roles were originally reversed: Alex started on the guitar; Eddie bought a drum kit. One day, Eddie heard Alex play the drum solo from "Wipe Out" and realized his brother was a natural behind the kit. They swapped, and Eddie began a lifelong obsession with the electric guitar. As a teenager, he was so dedicated that he would practice for hours with his bedroom door locked or walk around his house with his guitar strapped on.

Eddie’s style was a unique cocktail of his influences. He famously learned every Eric Clapton solo note-for-note but admitted that Jimmy Page’s "reckless abandon" was closer to his own spirit. He eventually pioneered the two-handed tapping technique, allowing him to play lightning-fast arpeggios that earned him the #1 spot in Guitar World's list of greatest guitarists.

From his first fourth-grade performance with "The Broken Combs" to selling over 80 million records worldwide, Eddie never lost that sense of wonder. As he said himself at the Smithsonian in 2015: "We came here with $50 and a piano... Now look where we are. If that’s not the American dream, what is?" (This information is from Wikipedia)

Van Halen - On Fire (Demo) (1976)

Mark Reale(Riot) 1955-2012

in remembrance of Mark Reale (Riot) (June 7, 1955 - January 25, 2012)

The guitarist Mark Reale is inextricably linked to the veteran heavy metal act Riot, a group he established and spearheaded throughout his career. As the primary creative engine and the only member to remain through every iteration of the band from 1975 until 2012, he guided Riot through numerous stylistic evolutions and roster changes. Under his leadership, the band earned a reputation for combining technical accuracy with a strong sense of melody. Riot’s studio history features several pivotal albums, particularly the 1981 release Fire Down Under, which is widely regarded as a significant contribution to the early American heavy metal movement. In the years that followed, Reale’s work on recordings such as Thundersteel helped pioneer a high-speed, aggressive form of power metal that served as a blueprint for later artists in the genre. Mark Reale passed away on January 25, 2012, at the age of 56, due to complications from a lifelong battle with Crohn’s disease. His death occurred shortly after the band completed the album Immortal Soul, marking the end of his nearly four-decade tenure. To honor his memory and continue his musical legacy, the surviving members of the band's most famous lineup rebranded the project as Riot V, continuing to perform the songs Reale composed.

Below you will find the article that Blabbermouth published in honor Mark Reale. In addition, below you will find an article from Louder Sound about Riot. I think that both articles explain well why the music of Riot is worth exploring if you are a fan of traditional heavy metal.

Founding RIOT Guitarist MARK REALE Dies At 56

January 25, 2012

Mark Reale, the founding guitarist of the legendary metal band RIOT, passed away earlier today (Wednesday, January 25) in a San Antonio hospital due to complications of Crohn's disease — an ailment he has battled for most of his life. He was 56 years old.

Reale had reportedly been in a coma for the past two weeks after suffering a subarachnoid hemorrhage on January 11.

RIOT said in a statement: "To friends and fans of Mark Reale and RIOT, we are deeply saddened to confirm that Mark has lost his battle with a lifelong illness. Your thoughts and prayers are appreciated by Mark's family, friends, and bandmates at this difficult time."

Upon learning of Mark's passing, Brian Slagel, founder and CEO of Metal Blade Records, said, "I was a huge fan of RIOT's 'Fire Down Under' album and got to interview them for my fanzine. Great guys and I was lucky enough to finally reissue 'Fire Down Under' and the other early RIOT albums on Metal Blade. We signed the band for their second run, so to speak, and put out some records in the '90s that did well, especially in Europe and Japan. It was a pleasure working with them and Mark was always a kind soul — an AMAZING player who really has a big time place in the history of metal. One of the really nice guys who put out some incredible stuff."

Mark is survived by his father, Anthony Reale, and was preceded in death by his mother, Frances Reale.

RIOT played two shows without Reale last week — on January 18 at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill in New York City and on January 20 at Montage Music Hall in Rochester, New York — and is currently taking part in 70,000 Tons Of Metal, a four-day all-heavy metal cruise which set sail on Monday, January 23 aboard the Royal Caribbean Majesty Of The Seas from Miami, Florida.

Mark spent most of his life working and performing while enduring almost constant pain and the side effects of treatment for Crohn's disease. He was in Texas bravely attempting to practice for the shows, but was felled by a severe onset of Crohn's symptoms, leaving him in the Intensive Care Unit at an undisclosed facility. Mark was struggling with these symptoms throughout the production of RIOT's new album, "Immortal Soul", and guitarist Mike Flyntz recorded a major portion of the guitars on the LP with Mark's creative direction while Reale was unable to perform.

RIOT's original singer Guy Speranza died on November 8, 2003 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 47 years old. Often regarded as the best RIOT vocalist, he sang on the group's first three full-length albums — "Rock City" (1977),"Narita" (1979) and "Fire Down Under" (1981) — before being replaced by Rhett Forrester. Forrester himself left in the mid-'80s to pursue a solo career, only to be murdered on January 22, 1994 in Atlanta.

Singer Mike Tirelli, who toured with RIOT after Mike DiMeo officially left the band in 2007, was diagnosed with stomach cancer in the fall of 2008 and underwent treatment for this life-threatening illness. All the treatments were reportedly a huge success in eradicating the disease.

-

The story of Riot, the unluckiest band in the world

By Peter Makowski

last updated 8 February 2021

In the late 70s, Riot were the Great White Hopes of American rock. But that was before the public ignored them, their label disowned them, and their singer quit. And then things got really bad…

This is a story of heroic failure. Of bad luck and lousy timing, misguided decisions and clashing personalities. Of a band who fell foul of the machinations of the music industry, the fickleness of the record-buying public and the dark side of the rock’n’roll dream.

The band in question is Riot, a bunch of New Yorkers whose determination to succeed was exceeded only by their repeated failure to do so. Between 1977 and 1981, they released a string of albums that should have turned them into superstars, one of which – 1981’s Fire Down Under – remains one of the great hard rock records of the era.

They’re fêted by everyone from Lars Ulrich, who has cited them as an influence, to Lady Gaga, who took inspiration from one of their anthems. They had the songs, the look and the determination.

What they didn’t have was the breaks. The Riot story has all the ingredients of a true heavy metal epic: the youthful dreams, the missed opportunities, the dogged perseverance, the repeated failures, the frustration, the farce, the bickering, the violence, the drugs… and the deaths of not one but three key members.

It’s Spinal Tap without the jokes; The Story Of Anvil without the happy ending. It’s a cautionary tale to anyone dreaming of rock’n’roll fame, and a reminder that for every band who make it, there are thousands who don’t.

“It’s just amazing that anything ever happened,” says drummer Sandy Slavin, who was a member of the band during their early-80s heyday. “When I played with Ace Frehley we’d be sitting on the bus and everybody would be telling you their music business horror stories. Mine was always just that little bit more horrifying."

“To be successful, you have to be a great performer, play the game and work with the press,” says Billy Arnell, who co-managed the band in the late 70s and early 80s. “Riot wasn’t that great at that stuff. They didn’t understand that being in the music business, a multi billion-dollar industry, took more than thinking like a Brooklyn kid.”

Former guitarist Rick Ventura – a man who lived through the worst parts of the story – puts it more bluntly: “Talk about a band with bad luck.”

If one man was the driving force behind Riot, it was guitarist Mark Reale. A tall, skinny Montrose fanatic with thinning hair – which he later covered with a series of wigs – the unassuming but quietly ambitious Reale would be the only constant member throughout the band’s history.

It was Reale who founded the band in his native Brooklyn in the summer of 1975 with bassist Phil Feit, drummer Peter Bitelli and vocalist Guy Speranza. A wiry Italian-American with a striking afro-style hairdo, Speranza looked at first glance like the archetypal 70s rock god-in-waiting. But his unobtrusive manner suggested that he wasn’t necessarily cut out for a life in rock’n’roll.

“Mark told me that he had to talk Guy into joining the band,” recalls future drummer Slavin. “He was singing with a Top 40 band in Brooklyn – he could take it or leave it. Guy was very adaptable; he was like a blank slate. When he joined Riot, he became the singer of Riot. Whoever he was hanging out with, that’s who Guy was going to be.”

Like Speranza, Reale had served time in several going-nowhere teenage bands, serving up Humble Pie and Foghat covers to drunken schoolfriends at backyard parties. But Riot were different. Reale and Speranza were writing their own material, for starters. They knew they had more to offer; they certainly hoped they had more to gain.

In a taste of what was to come, their timing was atrocious. New York in the mid 70s was in the grip of disco fever: glitterball hedonism and white powder were the order of the day.

Elsewhere, the burgeoning punk scene had taken root at infamous dive CBGB, spearheaded by the likes of The Ramones, Patti Smith and Television. At that time in the Big Apple, if you were a rock band who weren’t called Led Zeppelin, you faced an uphill struggle to get noticed.

But Riot had what most other rock’n’roll hopefuls didn’t: a go-getting management team in the shape of Billy Arnell and Steve Loeb. Arnell was a chain-smoking hipster with a machine-gun repartee who wouldn’t have seemed out of place in the creative department of a Mad Men-style ad agency. The more laidback Loeb was one part hippy, one part hustler; as a kid he had run around with future Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley.

Over the next decade, Arnell and Loeb would play a pivotal part in Riot’s career – sometimes for the good of it, sometimes not. Arnell had carved out a career writing jingles for an ad company before teaming up with Loeb to buy a studio, Greene Street, in Manhattan’s SoHo district. They were looking for a band to launch to their new label, Fire Sign Records. Initially, they were keen to sign something edgy – a punk or New Wave band. But when they stumbled across Riot playing in a club in the summer of 1976, they instantly saw something in the fledging outfit.

“They sounded great, looked good and had some fantastic material,” says Billy Arnell today, before pausing to mutter: “Little did we know what was coming.”

In late 1976, Riot entered Greene Street with Arnell and Loeb to record their debut album, Rock City. As well as releasing it on their own label, the two managers opted to produce the record themselves – sowing the seeds of a clash of interests that would impact on the band further down the line.

The album took seven long months to produce, and was a disjointed affair, though it did contain a trio of cult classics in the shape of Warrior, Tokyo Rose and the title track. It also introduced the band’s mascot, Tior, a ludicrous axe-wielding half-human, half-seal hybrid that prompted as much derision as it did admiration, not least among the band themselves.

Released in late 1977, Rock City found little favour in a year dominated by Fleetwood Mac and Donna Summer, and it sank without trace in America (though it cause a stir in Japan).

Undaunted, the band started work on the followup, Narita. Produced once again by Arnell and Loeb at Greene Street, it was a vast improvement: the band sounded infinitely more confident, and it housed another terrific song in the shape of future live staple Road Racin’. But by now, Riot were even more out of step with everything going on around them in New York, and the spotlight had been dragged to the opposite coast, where a similarly inclined band named Van Halen were rapidly making a name for themselves.

Narita – named after the main international airport in Tokyo and featuring their man-seal mascot Tior dressed as a sumo wrestler on the cover – was released in June 1979, but initially only in Japan. Once again, America wanted nothing to do with Riot.

By the time of their second album, Riot had already gone through several of the line-up changes that would define their career. Original bassist Phil Feit had been replaced by Jimmy Iommi during sessions for the debut album, while second guitarist LA Kouvaris had quit shortly afterwards, with Rick Ventura filling his shoes.

“It was Mark’s band,” says Ventura. “He started it. Sometimes, we had some conflicts because he wanted the band to be a certain way.”

Now, between finishing Narita and releasing it, they’d got a new drummer, New Jersey native Sandy Slavin.

“I’d never heard of Riot,” admits Slavin today. “Mark called me and said his band had just got rid of their rhythm section. I thought, ‘These guys are idiots – they’ve got a record out. Why the fuck did you break up your band?!’ But Mark seemed real nice. We we were both big fans of Montrose.”

But there were bigger problems than a revolving-door membership. Riot were struggling to get a break in their home country, and Arnell and Loeb realised they needed help to give their charges a leg-up. They opted to go into partnership with Fred Heller, a powerful music-business figure who had represented Ian Hunter and Lou Reed.

“Fred made a huge difference because he could get on the phone with label executives,” explains Arnell. “Freddie knew how to make people dance.” Heller made his presence felt immediately, bagging a deal with Capitol Records for the US release of Narita and wrangling a tour supporting AC/DC in Texas. After three years of having the door slammed in their faces, Riot figured that they were on the verge of stepping into the big time.

"They were the first arena shows any of us had done,” recalls Slavin. “We were like, ‘Yeah, we’re rock stars now!’ Billy and Steve were like, ‘What colour Mercedes do you want?’ We acted like idiots and busted up some hotel rooms. We went from a zero to a thousand.”

The reality was that Riot were still struggling to make their mark – a situation which led to some drastic brainstorming on the part of Arnell and Loeb. In late 1979, they called a meeting with the band. Slavin: “They said, ‘There’s no market for hard rock – you need to change your whole sound, get skinny ties and go New Wave.’ We were young and full of piss and vinegar. We said, ‘Fuck this crap!’”

The prospect of a potentially disastrous career change averted, Riot found their luck temporarily changing. Thanks to the support of taste-making British DJ Neal Kay, the band had gained a sizeable following in the UK, and in February 1980 they were offered a slot supporting Sammy Hagar on his British tour.

It was such a success that a few months later they were back, having bagged a spot at the inaugural Monsters Of Rock festival at Donington, though not before yet another line-up change, with bassist Kip Leming joining on bass.

“It rained and there was mud everywhere,” recalls Leming with a laugh. ”I went out into the audience to check out the band and got pelted by lumps of turf.”

Riot returned home in triumphant mood. They started worked on their third album, Fire Down Under, with the wind in their sails. Little did they know that the ship was about to be holed below the water line.

Looking back on Fire Down Under today, guitarist Rick Ventura recalls a band putting their struggles behind them.

“It was one of those moments,” he says, “where the chemistry was right, the attitude was good and everyone was playing great. It all came together.”

Mark Reale and Guy Speranza wrote together, with Ventura bringing in fully assembled songs of his own. Everybody chipped in with arrangements. After half a decade of turmoil, the band were finally pulling in the same direction.

“We had reached the point where the band was tight,” says Billy Arnell. “They’d started to get an artistic identity. As producers, Steve and I couldn’t really fuck it up.”

Fire Down Under stands as the high point of Riot’s career, and a landmark early-1980s hard rock record. Bridging the gap between Reale’s beloved Montrose and the nascent thrash scene that would emerge a few years later, it balanced its melodic chops with a tight energy and walked a lyrical tightrope between fantasy and gonzo rock’n’roll.

Its undoubted highlight was anthemic opener Swords And Tequila, a song that has been rightly fêted as a classic by Iron Maiden’s Steve Harris and Metallica’s Lars Ulrich. Surprisingly, it also influenced another more unlikely musician.

“Listen to the beginning of Swords And Tequila, then listen to Lady Gaga’s track Electric Chapel,” says Sandy Slavin. “The guitar intro on that is so fucking close it’s unbelievable. Not just the notes, but also the sound. She’s really into 80s rock, right?”

After two false starts, Riot had at last made their masterpiece – the album that would book their place at rock’s top table. At least that’s what should have happened. Instead, Capitol refused to release it.

The official line was that the label deemed it ‘commercially unacceptable’ – too heavy for the climate of 1981. But Slavin suggests that the real reason was down to a failed power-play by Billy Arnell and Steve Loeb.

“There was a song by Rick called You’re All I Needed Tonight that our A&R guy liked,” says Slavin. “He said it was a big hit, and he took a tape to the executives in LA and played to them. Then Billy and Steve don’t put the song on the album – it was their way to put the A&R guy in his place. Of course, the A&R looks like an idiot. That’s when the label decided that it was ‘commercially unacceptable’.”

Whatever the reason, the knockback was disastrous for Riot. Arnell decided to go toe-to-toe with the label and get the fanbase involved. He sent out a postcard to all the fans on their mailing list, invoking their axe-wielding, seal-headed mascot: “Tior is held captive in the ivory tower by the maniacal company executives.”

He worked up a petition to get the album released, signed by fans and such high-profile supporters as Iron Maiden. The cause was picked up by the British music press, if not their American counterparts.

Rather than having the desired effect, the campaign only made things worse. Not only did Capitol refuse to release the album, they weren’t inclined to let Riot go. While things hung in limbo, Riot’s funds dried up. Cracks were growing between the co-managers and the members of the band who weren’t Mark Reale and Guy Speranza.

“The band’s money was cut off,” says Slavin, still fuming at the memory. ”I had to give up my apartment in New York, move back to New Jersey. It was fucked. Billy and Steve had kept the money [from the deal with Capitol], so they could have kept us going. Then they sold it to Elektra. They sold the fucking record [Fire Down Under] twice.”

It was Elektra Records, fired up by the enthusiasm of hotshot A&R man Tom Zutaut, who proved to be Riot’s saviours. The new label helped extricate Riot from their Capitol deal, and finally released Fire Down Under. To the relief of the band, it was a success, selling more than its two predecessors combined (it would eventually sell more than 500,000 copies in the US).

Yet Riot’s capacity for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory was unmatched, and once again their world was about to come crashing down around them. In November 1981, while supporting Grand Funk Railroad, Guy Speranza – whose nickname was Buddy – dropped a bombshell.

“Guy turns to me and Mark and starts talking in the third person,” recalls Slavin. “He says, ‘Hey you guys, Buddy’s packing it in.’ We thought he was joking, so we didn’t say anything. Then we get back to the hotel and he says, ‘I’m really quitting.’ He announces that he’s getting married and his wife-to-be doesn’t like rock’n’roll.”

In a career defined by terrible timing, this was the worst timing of all. The band had finally made their breakthrough, and now their frontman was walking away from it for love.

Today, everyone has a different take on Speranza’s departure. Bassist Kip Leming suggests that the singer was unhappy with the idea of “putting on the leather pants and sparkly clothes – it wasn’t about music”. Sandy Slavin says that the singer was “fed up with Billy Arnell and Steve Loeb – he was tired of touring and not getting any reimbursement.”

Unsurprisingly, Arnell himself has a different take on the matter. “Guy was a very mellow, gentle person,” he says. “For a frontman, he wasn’t very confident. He was a great writer, and he was very identifiable, but it takes more than that.”

Whatever the reason, Speranza had made up his mind. He played his last show with Riot on December 22, 1981, the second of two sold-out shows supporting Rush at the Meadowlands Center, Rutherford, New Jersey.

“I have a picture of Guy from that show,” says Sandy. “He has his coat over his shoulder, he’s walking out of the dressing room, and that’s the last time I ever saw or talked to him. He was just glad to be gone.”

Speranza left the music business and became, of all things, a pest controller. One apocryphal story has Lars Ulrich, a Riot fan, calling a pest control company to sort out an infestation of rats in his New York apartment; he was shocked when it was Guy Speranza who knocked on the door.

Years of struggle culminating with the loss of a key member would have been a fatal body-blow for most bands. But for Mark Reale, there was no question of stopping after all his band had been through.

Riot returned to New York, bloodied but not broken. They held a few low-key auditions and quickly found a replacement for Speranza in the shape of Rhett Forrester. A bandleader’s son from New Jersey, Forrester had chiselled features, blonde hair and a cocky style developed in an assortment of cover bands.

With their new singer on board, the band entered the studio to record their fourth album, Restless Breed, a tougher, more metal-centric record that predated Quiet Riot’s sonically similar though much more successful Metal Health by almost a year.

“Not having Guy there was bad enough,” says Slavin. “But with Rhett, it was always about putting on a show. It didn’t feel genuine.”

It soon became apparent that Forrester was a volatile and insecure character. He became prone to picking fights. Worse, he was unreliable, as the band found out on their first tour with him.

“We got to Nashville, and we hear that Rhett’s going to make a later plane, which is always a bad sign,” recalls Slavin. “Suddenly, there’s a call for our tour manager. He comes back and says, ‘Fellas, the tour is over – Rhett’s in the hospital.’” It transpired that Forrester had attended a Queen show at Madison Square Garden, and ingested something at the aftershow that saw him hospitalised for four days.

Forrester got his act together enough to make another album, the underwhelming Born In America. But the band were losing their way, and so were their managers. Producing the album, Steve Loeb would go into the studio during the day and Billy Arnell at night, the latter accompanied by two bodyguards for protection.

By this time, Arnell had had enough. He quit the management team, cutting his losses. Today, he makes a successful living in the computer industry, while writing and producing music on the side. Now flying solo, Loeb tried to take Born In America to other labels following a dispute with Elektra, but no one was interested.

“And then Steve had the balls to turn up at Elektra with the album as if nothing had happened,” says Slavin. “They called security and threw him out of the office.”

Rick Ventura, who found it hard to disguise his lack of enthusiasm, was pushed out of the band. They embarked on one more tour, supporting Kiss, before deciding to call it a day. Their swansong show was at L’Amours club in Queens, in May 1984. “That was a show I put together,” says Slavin wryly. “We made more money on that date than we did on the whole Kiss tour."

Even if what passed as their glory days were over, Riot itself weren’t. Mark Reale relocated to San Antonio and briefly formed a new band, Narita (named after Riot’s second album), before resurrecting his old band’s moniker.

He would record another 10 albums with a series of different Riot line-ups, though none came close to Fire Down Under (and one of which, the horn-driven Privilege Of Power, was an unmitigated, experimental disaster).

Riot’s run of bad luck didn’t stop with their initial split. On January 2, 1994, Rhett Forrester was shot and killed during a car-jacking in Atlanta.

“The police guess he was reaching for something in the glovebox and whoever was standing outside the car, probably selling him something, thought he was going for a gun and shot him in the back,” says Sandy Slavin. “Rhett then drives the car away and crashes it into a police car. That’s Rhett!”

On November 8, 2003, Guy Speranza passed away after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. In an interview, Mark Reale revealed that his wife believed this was related to the chemicals he handled every day for 20 years in his job as a pest controller.

Then, on January 25, 2012, Mark Reale died of complications from Crohn’s Disease, the crippling stomach ailment that he had been battling for most of his life. He was still flying the Riot flag, until his illness got too bad for him to continue. A week before Reale died, Rick Ventura turned up to jam with the current Riot line-up in New York.

“I planned on going down and surprising Mark,” he says, “but he was too sick to play. I miss Mark, and I miss Guy too.”

It’s a stretch to say that Riot were cursed, but they seemingly spent their career caught in a perfect storm of misfortune, apathy and bad timing. But while theirs was a career template not to follow, they made a lot of mistakes so that other bands didn’t have to. It’s to their credit – and especially to Mark Reale’s credit – that they persevered in the face of it all.

Thirty-one years after their masterpiece, Fire Down Under, the surviving parties have bittersweet memories of Riot. “The thing I remember about Riot is the laughing,” says Sandy Slavin. “We always had a lot of fun.”

“The band has its place in history and it seems we’ve influenced a lot of people,” says Rick Ventura. “I’m really proud of that.”

“I guess for a time,” adds Kip Leming, “we were the biggest small band in the world.”

Riot V, who formed in 2013, continue to fly the Riot flag and have released two albums: 2014's Unleash the Fire and 2018's Armor of Light. This feature originally appeared in Classic Rock 174.

Riot - Warrior (from the 1977 album Rock City)

Riot - Sign Of The Crimson Storm (from the 1988 album Thundersteel)

Riot - Thundersteel (opening and title track of the 1988 album Thundersteel)

Sean Reinert(1971-2020) - Death, Cynic drummer

Sean Landon Reinert - (May 27th, 1971 - January 24th, 2020)

The highly skilled drumming of Sean Reinert (1971–2020) was admired by metal fans and musicians alike. According to Metal Archives, at the age of 19 Sean joined Chuck Schuldiner to record Death’s 1991 masterpiece Human, an album that became a cornerstone of technical death metal. He used his background in jazz and fusion for the intensity of death metal. Sean brought a high level of sophistication and polyrhythmic complexity to the genre. His drumming for Death and Cynic influenced a generation of drummers to move beyond raw speed toward a more cerebral, multifaceted style. Sean was also a founding member of the progressive metal band Cynic. On their landmark 1993 debut Focus, he further integrated jazz-fusion elements, utilizing synthesizers and intricate percussion to create a sound that defied traditional categorization. Throughout his career, he remained a prolific artist, contributing to projects like Æon Spoke, Aghora, and Gordian Knot, while also working as a composer for film and television.

Death - Flattening of Emotions

Cynic - Veil of Maya

In remembrance of Jimmy Bain(1947-2016) - Rainbow and Dio bassist

Jimmy Bain (Metal Archives: December 19, 1947 - January 24, 2016) (Wikpipedia: December 19, 1947 – January 23, 2016)

James Stewart Bain was a Scottish musician, best known for playing bass guitar in the bands Rainbow and Dio. He also worked with Kate Bush and Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott, co-writing on his solo albums. Jimmy Bain, for many heavy metal fans, is known for his time with Rainbow and Dio, and for the making of several legendary albums. According to Metal Archives, he played bass on Rainbow's excellent album Rising (1976) and Dio's famous 1980s albums Holy Diver (1983), The Last in Line (1984), Sacred Heart (1985), and Dream Evil (1987), in addition to other Dio albums. Metal Archives shows that he played bass with a whole bunch of other musicians, projects, and groups.

Bain was asked to join Rainbow after Ritchie Blackmore had watched him performing at The Marquee in London. He recorded the studio album Rising with them and played on their following world tour. While on the tour, he played on Rainbow's first live album, On Stage.

In 1978, Bain formed a band called Wild Horses. Jimmy was the lead vocalist, songwriter, as well as bassist for the band, which also included ex-Thin Lizzy guitarist Brian Robertson, drummer Clive Edwards, and guitarist Neil Carter. Wild Horses released two albums on EMI in Europe, Wild Horses (1980) and Stand Your Ground (1981), the latter featuring John Lockton in place of Carter, before Robertson and Edwards both left in June 1981. Robertson joined Motörhead the following year while Edwards joined former Whitesnake guitarist Bernie Marsden's S.O.S. Bain regrouped Wild Horses as a five-piece with ex-Lautrec members Reuben Archer and Laurence Archer, and The Next Band's Frank Noon, but they disbanded shortly after. Jimmy then worked with the former Family mainman Roger Chapman, Roy Harper, Gary Moore, and Kate Bush (on 1982's The Dreaming).

Bain worked with Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott for his two solo albums. A keyboard player as well as a bassist, he toured the material playing keyboards with Lynott's band. Their song, "Old Town," was re-recorded by The Corrs in 1999 and became a big hit worldwide.

He was secretly brought in by the German hard rockers Scorpions to play bass guitar on their 1984 album Love at First Sting. Guitarist Rudolf Schenker wanted him to join the Scorpions as full-time bassist, but their management wanted to keep the lineup German, so Francis Buchholz was brought back and Bain's bass tracks were said to be deleted.

In 1982, Bain linked up again with ex-Rainbow vocalist Ronnie James Dio for the band Dio. A central figure within Dio, Bain co-wrote "Rainbow in the Dark," "Holy Diver," and two additional songs which appear on their 1983 released first album, Holy Diver. Bain co-wrote several other songs for the following albums: The Last in Line (1984), Sacred Heart (1985), Intermission (1986), Dream Evil (1987), and Killing the Dragon (2002).

In autumn 1989, Bain left Dio during the recording of Lock Up the Wolves (an album he does not appear on) and formed a band with vocalist Mandy Lion called World War III. Bain's solo project, The Key, utilized a far more melodic and commercial approach. The guitarist on the project was Tracy G, borrowed from Dio's band, who was also the guitarist for World War III. Ronnie James Dio's concept project Magica (2000) saw Bain's return to the Dio lineup, and he played on the albums Magica and Killing the Dragon.

On 23 January 2016, Jimmy Bain died while in his cabin on Def Leppard's "Hysteria on the High Seas" cruise. He was due to perform on the cruise with his group Last In Line the following day. The performance did not go ahead, and band members informed fans on the cruise that he had been battling pneumonia for some time. The cause of death was determined to be lung cancer. Bain had not been diagnosed with cancer and was aware only of his pneumonia. He is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills), not far from his bandmate Ronnie James Dio. (Information from Metal Archives, Blabbermouth and Wikipedia.)

I enjoy Jimmy Bain's big bass lines on this Dio song.

Dio - When a Woman Cries (2016 Remaster)