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  • L7 Bassist Jennifer Finch Dead At 59, Five Days After Fans Raised $375,000 To Keep Her Home

    jennifer-finch-L7-cancer-diagnosis

    L7 bassist Jennifer Finch has died at the age of 59 following a battle with an aggressive form of brain cancer, her bandmates confirmed Saturday, July 18. The news comes just five days after Finch publicly revealed her diagnosis and withdrew from the band’s farewell “Last Hurrah Tour” — a five-day window in which fans and some of the biggest names in rock raised more than $375,000 to cover her in-home care. In their statement, L7 described being shattered by the loss of the woman whose fierce spirit, humor and creativity helped shape the band from its earliest days.

    L7 Confirms Jennifer Finch’s Death

    The band broke the news in a statement posted to social media on Saturday, remembering Finch as “our beloved bandmate, friend, and fellow troublemaker.” L7 said Finch fought a long, courageous battle with brain cancer, and described her as a true original who lived entirely on her own terms — someone whose impact on music, art, and the people around her can’t be measured.

    They wrote in a statement on social media: “With a very heavy heart we announce that our beloved bandmate, friend, and fellow troublemaker Jennifer Finch has passed away today. She had a long courageous fight with brain cancer and was loved by many wonderful friends, musical peers and fans worldwide.”

    They added: “We are shattered by the loss of our beloved bandmate, sister and friend, whose fierce spirit, humor and boundless creativity helped shape L7 and changed all of our lives forever.

    “Jennifer was a true original who lived entirely on her own terms, and the impact she made on music, art and everyone lucky enough to know her cannot be measured. We love her beyond words and will carry her with us always.

    “Rest in power, our dear friend.

    “With love, L7“.

    Finch’s death lands with brutal speed. As Loaded Radio reported earlier this week, her diagnosis was only made public on July 13, when L7 announced she would be unable to join the band’s final tour. What was initially believed to be treatable with a full course of radiation progressed rapidly, requiring multiple surgeries and around-the-clock in-home care.

    Five Days, $375,000: How The Rock World Rallied

    In the days between Finch’s diagnosis announcement and her death, a GoFundMe campaign launched by her friends, family and bandmates raised more than $375,000 — earmarked for in-home nursing care, medical equipment, physical and speech therapy, home-care expenses, and to help complete a creative project of Finch’s that was due in 2027.

    The donor list reads like a cross-section of everyone Finch’s four decades in music touched. Bad Religion guitarist and Epitaph Records founder Brett Gurewitz and his wife Gina gave $10,000. Garbage donated $8,000. Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna, Sub Pop Records, Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament, and Adrienne Armstrong — wife of Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong — each gave $5,000. Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan and Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman contributed $2,500 apiece, with Korn’s Brian “Head” Welch and Fugazi’s Guy Picciotto adding $1,000 each.

    That outpouring — punk, grunge, riot grrrl, nu-metal and prog royalty all showing up in the same week — says everything about how far Finch’s influence reached beyond L7’s own catalog.

    Also Recommended – THE NORTHWEST INVASION: Best Grunge Albums Ranked – The 13 Most Essential Pillars of the Seattle Sound

    L7-band-photo

    The Last Hurrah Tour Will Go On — At Finch’s Request

    Before her death, Finch asked her bandmates to carry on with L7’s farewell run without her, and the band committed to honoring that request. The first U.S. leg of the “Last Hurrah Tour” kicks off October 9, hitting New York City, Washington D.C., Nashville, Chicago and Seattle before wrapping with a hometown celebration in Los Angeles — a finale that now carries a far heavier weight.

    Tsuzumi Okai, who previously toured as a bassist with LIMP BIZKIT in 2018, will handle bass duties on the dates. L7 had previously noted the tour was planned when all four members were in good health, and pledged to make Finch’s care their immediate priority while fulfilling her wish that the shows continue.

    Jennifer Finch’s Legacy In L7

    Formed in Los Angeles in 1985, L7 became one of the most ferocious and influential bands to emerge from the collision of punk and grunge — a group whose blend of heaviness, melody, humor and socio-political fire earned them a place among the most important women-driven acts in heavy music history. Finch anchored the band’s low end through its classic era, including 1992’s “Bricks Are Heavy” — home of the alternative radio staple “Pretend We’re Dead,” which climbed to No. 8 on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart — and 1994’s “Hungry For Stink,” which delivered the No. 20 alternative hit “Andres.”

    After L7 went on indefinite hiatus in 2001, the band reunited in 2015, with the 2016 documentary “L7: Pretend We’re Dead” chronicling their story. Their comeback album “Scatter The Rats” arrived in May 2019 via Blackheart Records — the label founded by Joan Jett, one of the many rock icons who publicly rallied behind Finch in her final week.

    Beyond the bass, Finch was a respected photographer and multidisciplinary artist whose lens documented the L.A. underground for decades. She was 59.

    Our thoughts are with Jennifer’s family, her bandmates Donita Sparks, Suzi Gardner and Dee Plakas, and the generations of fans she inspired. Share your favorite Jennifer Finch memory in the comments below — and follow Loaded Radio for continuing coverage of this story and daily rock and metal news.

    Check This Out – Grunge’s Grunge-iest: 13 Bands That Defined the Genre

    TL;DR

    • L7 bassist Jennifer Finch died Saturday, July 18, 2026, at age 59 after a battle with an aggressive form of brain cancer
    • Her death came just five days after her diagnosis was made public and she withdrew from L7’s farewell tour
    • A GoFundMe launched for her care raised more than $375,000, with donations from members of GARBAGE, TOOL, PEARL JAM, BIKINI KILL, KORN and more
    • At Finch’s own request, L7’s “Last Hurrah Tour” will continue as planned, launching October 9 with Tsuzumi Okai on bass
    • Finch played on L7 classics including “Bricks Are Heavy” (1992) and “Hungry For Stink” (1994), and was also an accomplished photographer

    FAQ

    How did Jennifer Finch die?

    Jennifer Finch died from an aggressive form of brain cancer, her L7 bandmates confirmed on July 18, 2026. Her condition progressed rapidly after her diagnosis, requiring multiple surgeries before her death.

    How old was L7 bassist Jennifer Finch when she died?

    Jennifer Finch was 59 years old at the time of her death.

    How much did Jennifer Finch’s GoFundMe raise?

    The GoFundMe campaign launched after Finch’s diagnosis was announced raised more than $375,000 to cover in-home nursing care, medical equipment, therapy and home-care expenses.

    Will L7’s Last Hurrah Tour still happen?

    Yes. Before her death, Finch asked her bandmates to continue the farewell tour without her. The U.S. leg kicks off October 9 with Tsuzumi Okai filling in on bass, wrapping with a hometown show in Los Angeles.

    When was Jennifer Finch in L7?

    Finch joined L7 shortly after the band’s 1985 formation and anchored its classic era through 1996, then rejoined when the band reunited in 2014 and remained a member until her death.

    Rest in power, Jennifer Finch. Share your favorite Jennifer Finch memory in the comments below, and follow Loaded Radio for daily rock and metal news.

    The post L7 Bassist Jennifer Finch Dead At 59, Five Days After Fans Raised $375,000 To Keep Her Home appeared first on Loaded Radio.

  • Nunslaughter – Satanic Chaos Legions Review

    40 years, 34 past and present members, over 230 releases credited in the archives, and one migration from Pennsylvania—this is the rap sheet for Cleveland, Ohio’s Nunslaughter, who have been jousting Jesus since 1987. Some 5 years1 further down the left-hand path from 2021’s Red Is the Color of Ripping Death, which our own El Cuervo described as “an enjoyable experience that’s frayed around the edges,” Nunslaughter return in fine form to bless the black masses and kick Christian asses with sixth long-player, and BLKIIBLK Records debut, Satanic Chaos Legions. Such prolific proselytization on Satan’s behalf requires a certain type of longevity and focus, of which the sole remaining founder and vocalist, Don of the Dead, seems to have in droves, as Nunslaughter returns two-thirds of their Ripping Death lineup (intact since 2016) but for bassist Detonate, who was replaced by Malum in 2022. My only question: is this the Nunslaughter worth bringing your daughter to?

    Nunslaughter play attention-deficit death metal—Satanic Chaos Legions’ 14-track, 34-minute runtime replicating the Ripping Death blueprint to a tee. Tormentor’s riffs, of which there are legion, buzz just short of HM2 worship, but crackle with a thrashy electricity that slices through flesh with surgical, tremolodic speed (“Unsacrament”), chugs along with Deicide-ic groove (“Cathedral of Stench”), and pummels doomily like hell’s hammer (“Heavenless”), all evidence of a practitioner in full control of his dark art. Don of the Dead’s vocals are as viscerally vehement as ever—I love this dude’s voice—his death growls and howls amping up the evil with distinct lyrical clarity. And while Nunslaughter’s base devil metal approach hasn’t really changed over the past two score years, Satanic Chaos Legions stands as a high point in the discography, triumphantly marrying their knack for writing uniquely catchy bite-sized brutality with a newfound talent for pacing, producing an album perfectly assembled for maximum damage.

    If the boots-marching intro to the opening title track serves as the warning of Nunslaughter’s coming, then it’s track two that has them kicking in your fucking door. A visceral indictment of Catholicism and priestly pedophilia, “Jesus Fucking Dies” is a vicious, 1:20 speed fest that will leave you more breathless than a polar plunge. Moments like these have always worked in Nunslaughter’s favor, their bread and black butter, and with an average track length of 2:30, Legions suffers no dearth of these minute malignancies (“Listen To the Lies,” “Infernal Reign”). And while I enjoy the raw energy and brevity, I find myself more drawn to Nunslaughter’s slower, slightly drawn-out side. Lumbering, sludgy bass lines and some distorted spoken words welcome us to the inverted communion of the apex track, “Peukharist,” which further probes “Casket Lid Creaks” territory. Slow and dripping with heavy, sustained death chords, the track features some of Don Of the Dead’s most vile, hateful spitting, and with the clever sans-cringe song title, grabs my top spot as album highlight. In this, Satanic Chaos Legions eludes the curse of swirling similitude that could have easily cast a pall over the proceedings of a non-stop speed penned by lesser songwriters.


    Engineered, mastered, and mixed by Noah “Tormentor” Buchanan at his own Mercinary Studios in Cleveland, Satanic Chaos Legions benefits greatly from this backyard setup. A far cry from the early albums, Legions’ production surpasses that of its predecessor in terms of death metal heaviness, the slick mix highlighting all of Nunslaughter’s talent without sacrificing any of the raw edge the group’s become known for. Malum’s bass lines thrum, Wrath’s drums pulse with profane putridity, and all those god-forsaken riffs land like so many one-two punches to the solar plexus, making Satanic Chaos Legions one of, if not the, best-sounding Nunslaughter records in the discog. In nearly every respect, Satanic Chaos Legions improves upon the Ripping Death template, perhaps taking cues in some part from El Cuervo’s critique, and in so doing leaving me with little to fuss over. Aside perhaps from a couple of song titles that had me chucklingly eye-rolling (“Die Your Own Death,” “In the Flames of Inferno”), I had a blast with Nunslaughter this time out.

    For a band that’s been around for as long as Nunslaughter has, I’m often surprised by how little notoriety they receive. Is it the moniker, the subject matter, the gob-stopping depth of the discography? I’m not sure, but I will say if you’re looking for an entry point into Nunslaughter’s canon, look no further than Satanic Chaos Legions, and for those pre-ordained fanatics, buckle up; you’re in for a fun ride.

    Rating: 3.5/5.0
    DR: NA | Format Reviewed: Fookin’ Stream
    Label: BLKIIBLK Records
    Websites: Facebook | Instagram

    The post Nunslaughter – Satanic Chaos Legions Review appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

  • Henry Priestman: Yachts – Missing In Action: The Lost Tapes 1980-81 Interview

      Back in 2018 Louder Than War caught up with the Yorkshire born Henry Priestman, singer, musician, record producer and songwriter about the then, recently released Yachts box set, Suffice to Say: The Complete Yachts Collection. As friend of Louder Than War, Dave Dawson recently found out though, this turned out not to be quite […]

    The post Henry Priestman: Yachts – Missing In Action: The Lost Tapes 1980-81 Interview appeared first on Louder Than War.

  • Megafang: FOG ABS – Review & Interview – ALBUM OF THE WEEK!

    Megafang: FOG ABS Out July 31st (Bandcamp) A newly devised project birthed in the bowels of Brooklyn’s doom metal underground, but alchemised into something also indebted to rave culture and experimental club music; on FOG ABS, the debut EP from Megafang, ‘heavy music’ will always dominate in nature, for its origin is an insurmountable entity […]

    The post Megafang: FOG ABS – Review & Interview – ALBUM OF THE WEEK! appeared first on Louder Than War.

  • Now & Then: The Rolling Stones’ Foreign Tongues and the reach of Berry Is on Top

    The Rolling Stones have spent their career making their influences easy to hear, and Chuck Berry remains one of the clearest. Foreign Tongues connects through its guitar-driven arrangements, Jagger’s character-based singing, and the band’s preference for direct, rhythm-first rock and roll. Chuck Berry’s 1959 album Berry Is on Top offers a useful point of comparison because it contains several songs and techniques that helped shape the Stones from their earliest years.

  • L7’s Jennifer Finch Dies Days After Health Issues Revealed

    The 59-year-old’s family confirms her passing from aggressive brain cancer ahead of the band’s farewell tour. Continue reading…

  • Early-Era Rock Star Freddy ‘Boom-Boom’ Cannon Dead at 89

    ‘Palisades Park’ and ‘Tallahassee Lassie’ hitmaker was respected by Robert Plant, Mick Jagger and Stephen King. Continue reading…

  • “I will never forget the looks of horror from the label. They saw it as commercial suicide – which I suppose it was”: The turbulent story of Celtic Frost’s avant garde thrash masterpiece Into The Pandemonium

    Released in 1987, Celtic Frost’s Into The Pandemonium remains one of the most adventurous albums to be released by a metal band. In 2005, singer and guitarist Thomas Gabriel Fischer revisited the pain and agonies of making an avant garde metal masterpiece.

    It took six months to write, four months to record, was peppered with constant arguments between the band and almost everybody around them, and ultimately led to the demise of the band. But Into The Pandemonium, the third album from Swiss mavericks Celtic Frost, changed everything for them.

    Thomas Gabriel Fischer, aka Tom G. Warrior, was the band’s spine and nerve centre. He recalls the turbulent circumstances around the making of their most feted album with mixed feelings, though he’s in no doubt what so ever about the crucial nature of the record itself.

    “We were sure we had gone too far with our experiments,” explains the guitarist and singer. “We’d didn’t know where we were going. But this was the album that single handedly made Celtic Frost. It’s the band’s most important release.”

    Celtic Frost were formed in 1984. They evolved from Fischer’s previous band, extreme metal pioneers Hellhammer. Joining Fischer were Swiss-American bassist and fellow Hellhammer refugee Martin Eric Ain, plus drummer Stephen Priestly. The trio recorded the band’s debut album, Morbid Tales, which was released by German label Noise Records in late 1984.

    Priestly didn’t last long and was replaced by American drummer Reed St. Mark for 1985’s mini album Emperor’s Return. There was another disturbance in this Celtic Frost line-up – one of many throughout their career – when Ain was briefly displaced by Dominic Steiner, who played on 1985’s extreme metal classic To Mega Therion. Ain swiftly returned for the following year’s Tragic Serenades EP.

    But it was with Into The Pandemonium that the trio stepped away from the death metal caucus, taking both themselves and the genre into unchartered and turbulent waters. The songs they were writing for the new album went far beyond the boundaries of metal. They brought in cello, viola, violin and a female vocalist for the proto-symphonic metal song Tristesses De La Lune, covered the song Mexican Radio by oddball LA new wave band Wall Of Voodoo, introduced R&B-style backing vocals on I Won’t Dance and even dabbled in primitive industrial hip hop on One The Pride. And then there were Fischer’s vocals, which interspersed his instantly recognisable death grunts with distinctive, unsettling moans. most notably on Mesmerized.

    Celtic Frost in 1987

    Celtic Frost in 1987: (from left) Tom G Warrior, Reed St Mark, Martin Eric Ain (Image credit: Fred Baumgart)

    “You have to understand that we were always an extreme band,” recalls Fischer. “In fact, when Noise Records signed us they said, ‘We want the most extreme band in the world, and you guys are it.’ What they didn’t realise was how extreme we really were. Martin and I had so many influences that we were determined to incorporate into our music. In fact, from the start we had a game plan for the band. Celtic Frost would do three albums, and that’s it. We had the basis worked out for all of them – even some song titles! – lyrical ideas and artwork concepts. That’s how far-reaching we were.

    “The other thing you must understand is that when we began to work on Into The Pandemonium, we were still just kids, and it had been less than two years since Hellhammer had split up. That band was very dismal and ultra heavy, but so far removed from our vision for Frost. So, things had happened really fast.”

    In a taste of what was to come, the band locked horns with Noise from the very beginning of writing sessions. The label wanted Celtic Frost to play safe, which was the last thing Celtic Frost themselves wanted to do.

    “They wanted us to play safe. What they were after was a Slayer or an Exodus album,” says Fischer. “Just another thrash metal record. No way could we do that. We always took chances, and always will. The day that we compromise on what we do is the day we completely give up. We have to take risks – it’s what drives us. At the time, Metallica were still a little way from becoming mainstream, thrash was a very young concept. Any band trying to make their way in this area of music was expected to be obvious, and to conform. We went against everything. We wanted to do an album that brought in goth, dance, electronica, as well as our metal influences. For Noise that was rather frightening.”

    “They heard what we were trying to do, and freaked out. The arguments got so bad that in the end the financial and mental pressure on the band led to us splitting up. It got that horrible. Now I can perhaps appreciate their viewpoint a little more, because we were really going for something so different it was scary. At the time, though… it was war!”

    The band didn’t want to self-produce the album, believing that their inexperience would go against them. The boldness of the concept called for a producer who understood both their philosophy and could bring it to fruition in the studio. They drew up a short list of potential producers, including Rick Rubin (“before he became a household name”), and Michael Wagener (“who’d had a lot of commercial success – we liked the sounds he got”), but every advance met with a brick wall.

    “Noise told us that everyone they’d approached had either turned it down, or wasn’t available. I still don’t know if that really was the case, but we ended up producing the record ourselves, which wasn’t what we wanted at all. We got in Arabian musicians, an orchestra, an opera singer… and they were being directed by three kids with precious little experience. Not ideal at all.”

    The whole recording process took nearly four months, and the already strained relations between the band and label were deteriorating to the point of no return. The fact that the band were stubbornly determined to pursue their own creative path didn’t help relationships with the label. Opening the album with that leftfield cover of Wall Of Voodoo’s Mexican Radio was a case in point.

    “Why did we do it? Because both Martin and I loved that band and that song,” says Fischer. “Reed fought against us doing it, and it took four takes to get it right. After the third one, I was ready to give up and scrap the whole idea, but we went for one more – and it was exactly how we wanted it. Originally, it was going to be a bonus song, but came out so well we decided to start off the album with it. I think it confused a lot of people who just expected the usual diet of thrash and heaviness from us. That was in there, but we were determined to make a statement from the beginning.”

    Noise Records, who had signed the band in the hope of capitalising on the burgeoning popularity of thrash, were beyond unimpressed with the completed album.

    “I vividly recall that, when we finished the record, people from the company came down to hear it,” says Fischer. “I will never forget the looks of horror on their faces. They didn’t understand what we’d done, and saw it as commercial suicide – which I suppose it was. The phrase ‘put the album on ice’ was used by Noise at the time. They couldn’t afford to scrap it, because comparatively too much money had been spent on it. But marketing budgets, for a video and advertising, just disappeared overnight. Noise did try as hard as they could to interfere artistically, but we held firm. There was no way we were gonna change a thing. For years I was bitter and resentful of their attitude, but now I’m not so vengeful. I’ve moved on. I don’t hold any grudges against them.”

    The album was released on June 1, 1987, and was hailed as an instant classic by those who were tuned into the underground – the phrase ‘avant garde metal’ was coined to describe it. But its genius didn’t translate into mainstream recognition – Celtic Frost were too far out there for all but the most open-minded metal fan. This writer spent time with the band at Ain’s flat in Zurich around the album’s release, and they were bemused and angry at their situation.

    “I don’t know if this band can exist for much longer,” a depressed Fischer explained at the time. “We are so proud of what we’ve achieved, but maybe the world isn’t ready for a band who adore Dead Can Dance and Wall Of Voodoo as much as Slayer and Metallica.”

    Celtic Frost in 1987

    (Image credit: Peter Schlegel)

    Their mood wasn’t helped by the fact that Noise refused to finance a tour in support of the album – Fischer says that the band’s own manager stumped up the money. “Everything that surrounded the record was just a nightmare. And it eventually got to us,” he says. “We split up on stage in Dallas in December of 1987. Perhaps if we’d been a little older, wiser heads may have prevailed and we may have gotten through all the troubles. But we were still so young, the whole business destroyed us.”

    Fischer re-activated a new incarnation of band (without Ain and St Mark) for 1988’s controversial Cold Lake album, a record despised by the frontman to this day. That was followed by 1990’s Vanity/Nemesis, which saw Ain returning to the fold. The band split three years later, but Fischer and Ain reunited under the Celtic Frost banner in 2001, releasing the 2006 comeback album Monotheist, before splitting once again in 2008, seemingly for good (Ain passed away in 2017 at the age of 50).

    The pain of making Into The Pandemonium clearly lingers for Fischer, but with hindsight, he can appreciate the positive aspects of the album alongside the negative ones.

    “I am so proud of what we did,” he says. “And to some extent it was this combination of innocence and arrogance that drove us to do what we did. The day we lose our innocence will be the day we give up making music. But we did make mistakes in the studio – this is not a perfect album. One In Their Pride, for instance, went too far.

    “I can listen back now, and hear where we went wrong. But what matters is the overall atmosphere and vision. If you think back to the albums being made at the time, nobody was pushing as hard as we were. It was insane and it could have been a disaster, but we pulled off something fantastic. Bands with 10 times our budget weren’t making albums that had 10 percent of our innovation.”

    It may have been a traumatic experience for the band who made it, but Into The Pandemonium has become one of the most influential metal records of the 80s. Everyone from Darkthrone and Dimmu Borgir to Nirvana – who used to listen to it in their tour van – has held it up as an inspiration. But back in 1987, shortly after the release of Into The Pandemonium, Celtic Frost weren’t sure if they had any future at all. Yet even then Fischer was defiant.

    “If this is our last record, I think history will judge us as doing something that will make its mark. I know in 20 years’ time, people will be talking about this,”

    All these years later, he’s been proved right.

    Originally published in Metal Hammer issue 144. Updated August 2024

  • News: Albums of the Month (April – June 2026)

    2604_aom1A quarterly feature highlighting album releases rated highly by the GRTR! review team and worthy of your investigation. We try and pick out a cross-section of albums that reflect the range of genres reviewed at the website. The star rating … Continue reading →

    The post News: Albums of the Month (April – June 2026) appeared first on Get Ready to ROCK!.

  • Game Over – Seventh Full Length On The Way

    Italian thrashers Game Over will put out their seventh full-length instalment, When Darkness Falls, on September 18th, 2026 through Scarlet Records. To taste a first piece of the new music, check out a video clip for the “Break Away” single.
    Read more…