Chicago Metal Legend SHAUN GLASS, Who Has Played With SOIL, BROKEN HOPE And REPENTANCE, Dies At 57

Chicago metal legend Shaun Glass has died at the age of 57.

Glass, who has played with a number of acclaimed metal bands over the past four decades, including SOIL, BROKEN HOPE, SINDROME, TERMINAL DEATH, DIRGE WITHIN, THE BLOODLINE and, more recently, REPENTANCE, passed away on July 1, a month after suffering a stroke at his Illinois home that he shared with his wife Michelle and their 13-year-old son Maddux.

Michelle shared the news of Shaun's death in a social media post on Wednesday (July 1). She wrote: "It is with an extremely heavy heart that I share that Shaun passed away this morning after suffering a medical emergency on May 31.

"Shaun and I met in 2003 and married in 2010. In 2012, we welcomed our son — Shaun's pride and joy, as anyone who knew him well already knows.

"Our lives will never be the same. We are devastated, and we ask for privacy and respect as our family begins to navigate this unimaginable loss.

"Shaun was many things to many people, but to us he was always a husband and a Dad first.

"Please keep our family in your prayers, thoughts, or however you send positive energy."

Countless fellow metal musicians have since taken to social media to pay tribute to Shaun, including MACHINE HEAD's Robb Flynn, who described Glass as "one of the biggest ball-busters I've ever known" as well as "one of the sweetest human beings I've ever had the privilege of calling my friend."

NONPOINT drummer Robb Rivera said that Shaun was his "newswire for everything heavy. He was always the first to send me a new band I needed to hear, a record I had to check out, or some breaking news from the metal world. He lived this music every single day."

Shaun's former bandmates in SOIL also acknowledged his passing, writing on social media: "Although we have been estranged and not on good terms since his departure in 2007, he was still an integral part of SOIL in the early years. And for a long time he was a good friend and comrade. We had many laughs and many good times back in the day. We will look back at those times with fond memories and smiles."

KREATOR's Miland "Mille" Petrozza described Shaun "one of the coolest people" as well as "a friend, a fan and an overall music enthusiast" whom he had known since KREATOR's very first tour of the USA four decades ago.

FEAR FACTORY's Dino Cazares, who says he spoke to Glass "every single day", wrote in part: "Shaun had a gift that very few people are born with: he connected people. He helped countless bands find musicians. He introduced people who never would’ve met otherwise. In a lot of ways, he's responsible for careers that probably wouldn’t have happened without him and he never asked for credit.

"The moment you met him, you were pulled in by his energy, his positivity, and the fact that he genuinely cared. It didn't matter if you were in a famous band, just starting out, or someone he'd met five minutes earlier he treated everyone the same. Even if you didn't like him, or if the two of you had a falling out, he was always the bigger person. He'd make amends because he still cared. That's just who he was.

"He was the kind of guy who walked into a room and instantly became the center of it. He didn't have to try. People naturally gravitated toward him. The only other person I've ever met with that kind of magnetic aura was Dimebag Darrell who nicknamed Shaun 'Fireball'.

"Shaun was a walking music encyclopedia. He knew everything… and somehow he knew everyone. I'd ask him, 'How do you keep up with so many people? How do you remember every band, every story, every detail?' He'd just laugh, because talking to people wasn't work for him; it was who he was. That's why I nicknamed him 'BlabberGlass.' He always knew the inside story because he actually took the time to know people and listen. His brain was like a sponge filled with an unbelievable amount of music knowledge… and some useless information too lol

"Behind the scenes, Shaun quietly helped shape music in ways most people will never realize. From underground artists to some of the biggest names in metal, people trusted his ears. A&R reps, labels, producers, engineers, journalists, and bands all sent him mixes because they valued his opinion. He had an incredible ability to hear things that everyone else missed. His fingerprints are on countless records, even if his name isn't."

TRIVIUM's Matt Heafy wrote: "Shaun Glass was one of the greatest people we've had the pleasure of meeting, knowing, and calling a friend.

"We first met Glass back in 2004/2005 and he's been nothing but the most caring, hilarious, devoted, and wonderful companion in life. He was so proud of his incredible son — he'd talk often of his son's amazing interests and path into education and sports and life.

"Shaun always had his finger on the pulse of the entire metal, rock, and extreme metal world. He was beloved by every person who met him — and he always would check in on each of his friends, on their families.

"This loss hits very close to home for the extended TRIVIUM family."

Glass was a heavy metal lifer who started out in the 1980s as a member of the Chicago death metal band TERMINAL DEATH, with whom he recorded two demos, before joining SINDROME — a thrash favorite within tape-trading circles with the band's "Into The Halls Of Extermination" demo — in 1986. Glass later replaced Ed Hughes as the bass player of BROKEN HOPE and recorded the albums "Repulsive Conception" and "Loathing" with the gore-hungry death metallers before leaving in 1998 to focus on his heavy rock band SOIL. It was with SOIL that he gained the most commercial success, thanks largely to the band's second album, "Scars" and its lead single, "Halo". He would go on to release two more albums with the band, "Redefine" (2004) and "True Self" (2007) before exiting the group and forming DIRGE WITHIN, with whom he recorded two albums, "Force Fed Lies" and "There Will Be Blood". He then rejoined BROKEN HOPE in time to appear on the 2013 album "Omen Of Disease" before eventually forming REPENTANCE.

Prior to Shaun's passing, REPENTANCE had completed work on its third full-length album, "Retaliate", which was originally scheduled for release on July 17, 2026 via Noble Demon but has since been delayed in the wake of Glass's initial medical emergency.

Glass formed REPENTANCE in 2018 and released the band's debut album, "God For A Day", in 2020, leading to a worldwide signing with German label Noble Demon in 2021. This partnership marked a new chapter for the band, beginning with the EP "Volume I – Reborn" (2021),which introduced vocalist Adam Gilley and featured a guest appearance from TRIVIUM guitarist Corey Beaulieu. In 2023, REPENTANCE followed up with its sophomore album, "The Process Of Human Demise", a record that featured guest contributions from Beaulieu and Milo Silvestro (FEAR FACTORY).

Photo credit: Dan Haggerty