A very important singer in thrash in my opinion left from life yesterday. This proves 2018 is another bad year for metal. His vocals in "Alice In Hell" are iconic although some people consider it overrated. So i guess the band Rampage will split?

Also i lt came to my attenion that there is a 1998 album he did with annihilator. Do you recommend it? Or is it some groove metal stuff that is in par with Overkill's and Exodus' ones?


In addition. Condolensces to his family and band members for this terrible loss

It is actually a 1999 album - "Criteria For a Black Widow".

Kind of a hit and miss affair. Some good songs and some stinkers.

I loved Randy's vocals on "Alice..." and his stuff in D.O.A.

I liked Criteria for a Black Widow but it is admittedly spotty. The highs are really good but the lows are pretty awkward. I've never listened to DOA or Stress Factor 9, feel like I should fix that. And the awesomeness of Alison Hell goes without saying.

Also, are there any links confirming this? An acquaintance posted about it this morning but I've not turned up much in the way of an actual article.

EDIT: Blabbermouth confirmed
http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/randy- ... ead-at-58/

I am Utterly devastated right now. He will be sorely missed. Will try to spin Alice in Hell tomorrow.

RIP. Easily the best vocalist Annihilator had.

That would be Joe Comeau. But Randy did sing on the best Annihilator album so there is that.

This year has been a fucking gut punch. Alice In Hell, while not my favorite album ever, is probably the most important album I've ever heard. All on its own it shaped the kind of guitar player I wanted to be, so I used to listen to it and play along with it more times than will ever be known.

Alice In Hell wouldn't have been the massive bulldozing album it is without Rampage. He will be missed.

I do kind of remember that incident, which happened on tour sometime after that Black Widow album.

RIP. That first album is godly, and while the first thing that comes to mind is always "incredible guitars!", the singing does have a lot of bite and charisma on that record.

Annihilator never matched the glory of that first record. The second one tried and "more of the same" feeling.

Hate to say it but this isn't really surprising. These men live life very hard and it takes years off them. Tim Calvert was an exception since ALS has no known cause, but Warrel Dane? Yeah that guy wasn't going to live to be an old man. I'm sure Randy burned the candle at both ends, too. So we can expect to lose these guys as they get into their 50s and 60s.

Reflecting more on his passing inspired me to check out the demos that were recorded with Randy in preparation of Never, Neverland. While he wouldn't have suited the album we actually got nor any of its follow-ups (Including the one he appeared on if we're being honest), I do wonder what Annihilator would've been like if they had kept him around as a vocalist or got somebody more like him. Alison in Hell is such a distinct album in Annihilator's catalogue and it's intriguing to think about an alternate universe where they further pursued that gritty trajectory. I suppose Jeff's groovy and melodic influences were inevitable either way.

More shitty news. Hail and farewell to the voice of the best thing Annihilator ever recorded.