Legendary Extreme Metal Drummer NICK BARKER Says He Recently 'Developed A Life-Threatening Condition Called Calciphylaxis'

In a new interview with Paul McNamee of The False Face podcast, legendary extreme metal drummer Nick Barker (LOCK UP, BRUJERIA, DIMMU BORGIR, CRADLE OF FILTH) opened up about some of his recent health challenges, three years after he announced he was battling kidney failure. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "The health is improving day by day. I'm in a really positive head space 'cause I developed a life-threatening condition called calciphylaxis… Let me tell you a little bit about it. It's got a 50/50 chance of survival rate. That's how serious it is. Basically, I was prescribed a drug called warfarin, which is a blood thinner. And it made the blood vessels in my calves calcify. So I had these big fucking bruised lesions. It looks like a shark has just come and taken chunks out of my calf muscles. I've got some really bad scarring. And it was because of this drug. And so we caught it in time because what it started off as, it started off like a pea-sized blood blister with a little bit of bruising around it. I didn't think anything of it at the time. It was a bit painful. And I thought, 'Oh, I probably fucking done it in my sleep or caught something while I wasn't paying attention.' Bro, it was a 50/50 survival rate. And at the height of it, these lesions were so bad on my legs, my wife's grandmother described it best. She said, 'It just looked like raw meat.' But you imagine all of your nerve endings — bro, it was fucking excruciating. The pain was unbearable. I couldn't even sleep. They had me on morphine, on methadone and then this other drug nabilone, which is a derivative of THC. Basically, I was off my fucking tits, but it didn't do anything to kill the pain. All it did was took the edge off a little bit. But bro, it felt like my legs were in a fire constantly.

Asked how he "turned the corner on that", Nick said: "We stopped that medication immediately. And then to try and flush it out of my system, the docs put me on dialysis five times a week. And I was given all these intravenous drugs while I was dialyzing to help try and push it out. And all my wounds got infected. I almost got sepsis. [This was], like, last month. But yeah, it was fucking life-threatening. And even my wife, she was in tears. When we looked at the wounds and the doctor said, 'Oh, you're healing. This is good,' my wife burst into tears. She said, 'I honestly thought I was gonna lose you' because it's only a 50% survival rate. Because the wounds are that intense and deep, and they're prone to infection. And anyway, so they got infected. I got fucking cellulitis. And bro, my lower legs, from the knee down, they were so fucking — you couldn't even touch them. Even trying to put socks on, it was, like, 'Ah!' It was just crazy, the pain. Because it, that's what a lot of people die from, is the infection. They get sepsis. It's kind of like meningitis. Once it kicks in, if you don't catch it early enough, you're done. But anyway. I'm here. And I'm on the mend… And it was a 24/7 ordeal. I couldn't even sleep. I really couldn't, mate. The pain was that bad. And then we're in bed, and if I did get to sleep, if my wife just happened to touch my leg, in your sleep how you do, I'd wake up [in pain], 'What's wrong? What's wrong?' 'My fucking legs. Ah.' Yeah. And at one point I thought they were gonna amputate… See, I've got a thing with my wife. I said, 'Look, if anything ever happens and they say they've got to amputate, I don't wanna be here. I'd rather die with my legs than fucking live without them.' Because I'm a drummer. What am I gonna do? Fucking walk around in one of those mobility fucking things with no legs. It's, like, nah. No. I ain't going out like that, mate. No, I ain't going out like that. I'd rather fucking jump off a cliff."

The 53-year-old Barker started playing drums at the age of 13 years old, but his professional career began back in 1993 at age 20 when he joined U.K. black metal icons CRADLE OF FILTH. After four albums and numerous world tours that followed, Nick went on to join the ranks of Norwegian black metal rivals DIMMU BORGIR in 1999 and went on to enjoy even greater commercial success with them up until 2004.

Nick has also been a busy session player in both live and studio environments, lending his skills to the likes of such heavyweight metal acts as TESTAMENT, OLD MAN'S CHILD, EXODUS, BRUJERIA, GORGOROTH, GOD SEED, ANAAL NATHRAKH and BENEDICTION, to name a few.

Barker previously discussed his health challenges in January 2025 in an interview with Earth House. He said at the time:  "I went from traveling the world every month to being stuck at home. And it took about six months to come to terms of it 'cause I felt like I was in prison.

"We picked up [touring] after COVID, and then I started to get sick," the British-born musician continued. "I ended up in hospital on a U.S. tour. 10 days in ICU in North Carolina. Yeah, it was pretty bad. The bill came to 98 grand. Well, I didn't pay. They've got a thing now in the States where if you're a non-citizen and you've got no insurance, you pay a waiver fee and you fill out the form, a waiver, and they just treat you. But they did show me, 'This is how much your treatment costs.'"

Barker went on to say that he really misses "not being able to travel or tour. When it's been pretty much what you do your entire adult life and then all of a sudden, it just stops suddenly, it's a bit of a headfuck," he explained.

Reflecting on another health scare that happened while he was on tour, Nick said: "We were on a heavy metal cruise from Florida to Nassau, Bahamas. And during the gig I had a panic attack. And the paramedics were there. I was, like, 'I need oxygen. I can't breathe.' They were, like, 'A thousand dollars.' And they were literally standing over me, watching me [gasping for breath]."

Asked if he ended up paying, Nick said: "No, I didn't. I said, 'Fuck you.' I kicked the emergency doors open and did a Titanic special. [Laughs]"