Metal Celebrities React to the Death of Ralph Santolla

The world of extreme music continues to reel from the loss of Ralph Santolla, current or former guitarist for such notable acts as Deicide, Obituary, Death, Sebastian Bach, and Devil’s Highway. Santolla fell into a coma following a heart attack last week, and was taken off of life support yesterday. He was only 48-years-old.

Below, MetalSucks has collected tributes and recollections from Santolla’s past bandmates, as well as other notable members of the metal community. We will update this post as tributes continue to come in.

Sebastian Bach

Rest In Peace Ralph Santolla
Thanks for the music and the fun times
My condolences to the Santolla family. https://t.co/J4Ejrjmw64

— Sebastian Bach (@sebastianbach) June 6, 2018

Richard Christy (Death, Charred Walls of the Damned)

RIP Ralph Santolla, my Metal Brother in Iced Earth. Had so many great times on tour with Ralph, can't believe he's gone. Such a funny, talented, & genuinely friendly guy, please crank up his many bands in his memory tonight! https://t.co/K7aCYlNOOz @obituarytheband @DeicideBand pic.twitter.com/6ObpZs8v6a

— Richard Christy (@cwotd) June 6, 2018

Michael Amott (Arch Enemy)

American guitarist Ralph Santolla has passed away. I have a lot of fond memories of Ralph, I actually shared a tour bus with Ralph on his first ever European tour when he was playing for Death in 1993 (I was playing in Carcass). We became fast friends as we were both fans of guitarists Michael Schenker and Uli Jon Roth. We almost started a band together at one point. It never materialised, but we sure had a great time talking about it! Ralph faced a lot of challenges over the years in his personal life but always kept on playing great guitar and wrote some remarkable music. Even though he made a name for himself in the Death Metal world, playing for bands like Death, Obituary and Deicide, I believe his heart was always more into the melodic side of things. One of my favourite songs he composed and played on is “No More Miracles” off the “Hourglass” album with his Millennium band. I’ll be listening to that one a few times tonight while remembering the good times. Cheers Ralph! Rest In Peace. #ralphsantolla #rip #ripralphsantolla

A post shared by ???????????????????????????? ???????????????????? (@michael_amott) on Jun 7, 2018 at 2:36am PDT

Tim “Ripper” Owens (ex-Judas Priest, Charred Walls of the Damned)

Today they take our buddy @ralphsantolla Off life support. You will be missed Buddy ???? We love ya RIP

A post shared by Tim Ripper Owens???????? (@theripperowens) on Jun 5, 2018 at 10:16am PDT

Orange Goblin

We are very saddened to hear of the passing of Ralph Santolla. We had some great times hanging out together when Ralph was in Obituary and he will be missed by everyone that knew him. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends at this sad time. R.I.P.

— Orange Goblin (@OrangeGoblin1) June 7, 2018

Jasmin St. Claire

Another sad & unbelievable loss.. R.I.P Ralph Santolla..thanks for the all the great years of metal & the laughs .. I wish the talented ones would quit dying..Godspeed pic.twitter.com/uPPDybqCns

— jasmin st claire (@jasminstclaire) June 7, 2018