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Andy Williams, who co-founded Every Time I Die in 1998 and spent the last decade of his life as the professional wrestler The Butcher, died on Saturday, September 5. He was 48. Williams collapsed at the end of a tag team match at an Enjoy Wrestling event at Mr. Smalls Theatre in Millvale, Pennsylvania, just outside Pittsburgh. Medical staff on site administered CPR until an ambulance arrived. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed his death to TMZ on Sunday morning. A cause has not been announced.

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What happened

Williams was competing at Enjoy Wrestling’s Five Years event on Saturday night, teaming with his longtime partner The Blade against the team known as TME. The two men had wrestled together for the better part of a decade.

He collapsed at the conclusion of the match.

Enjoy Wrestling’s statement, posted the same night: Andy collapsed at the end of his match this evening, doctors on staff tended to him immediately, administering CPR until the ambulance arrived. They sent everyone home and were at the hospital waiting for more information, and thanked everyone who helped and reached out.

The remainder of the show was cancelled.

TMZ reported his death on Sunday morning, citing the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office directly. An investigation is underway. No statement from Williams’ family has been made public.

The promotion’s second post said two words: Butcher Forever.

The knee injury that started everything

Here’s the thing about Andy Williams that makes today harder to write, and that most of the coverage is stepping past.

He wanted to be a wrestler first.

Before Every Time I Die existed, Williams trained at the Renegade Wrestling Association in Ontario. He got six months in before a knee injury ended it.

So he formed a band instead. Every Time I Die started in Buffalo in 1998, and he played rhythm guitar in it for twenty-four years.

And then, in his thirties, he went back and did the thing the injury had taken. He trained with former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett, became a fixture at Barnett’s Bloodsport events, teamed with The Blade on the independent circuit from 2017, and in November 2019 signed with All Elite Wrestling — debuting on the ninth-ever episode of Dynamite by attacking Cody Rhodes.

Very few people get the career they gave up on. He got both, in order, and he was still doing the second one on Saturday night.

Every Time I Die

Between 1998 and 2022, Every Time I Die made nine albums and became one of the most respected and least imitated bands in American heavy music.

They came out of Buffalo with a sound nobody has successfully copied — Southern rock swagger welded to hardcore violence, Keith Buckley writing lyrics that read like literature, and a live show with a reputation that outran the record sales for most of their career.

Hot Damn! in 2003, Gutter Phenomenon in 2005, The Big Dirty, New Junk Aesthetic, Ex Lives, From Parts Unknown, Low Teens, Radical in 2021. Nine records, no bad ones, and a run of consistency almost nobody in metalcore matched.

Williams was there for all of it. Rhythm guitar, alongside Jordan Buckley on lead — and worth stating plainly, because several outlets have got it wrong today: he was a guitarist, not a bassist.

The band ended in January 2022 in circumstances that were public and unpleasant, and that is not what today is for. The other members went on to form Better Lovers. Keith Buckley formed Many Eyes. Williams put together Atomic Rule.

Three weeks ago

On August 14, Williams said publicly that a new project chronicling the history of Every Time I Die was in the works.

In the same conversation he acknowledged that a band reunion was unlikely.

That was three weeks ago.

The tributes

They started arriving within an hour of the news, and the range of them says something about the man.

From music: Josh Scogin of The Chariot. Zao. Shai Hulud. Devin Shidaker of The Acacia Strain, who posted two words — Butcher Forever. Blake Louis Prince of TEETH.

Zack Cannon put it as plainly as anyone: he straight up wouldn’t be doing what he’s doing in the touring world, or know half the people he knows today, if it wasn’t for Andy Williams bringing him on tour with ETID back in the day.

From wrestling: Matt Hardy. Corey Graves. Josh Alexander. QT Marshall. Bryce Remsburg. RJ City. Matthew Rehwoldt.

Andy H. Murray wrote that with ETID and later Atomic Rule he blazed musical trails, redefined heavy music and influenced a generation — and that as The Butcher he was an awesome throwback brawler, a great man with a beautiful soul.

Two industries that barely speak to each other, mourning the same person on the same afternoon.

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What he was actually doing this year

Williams and The Blade had returned to regular independent wrestling after their AEW contracts expired in June 2026. They’d been with the promotion since 2019, spending the early years as one of the more distinctive teams in a tag division that was still being built, associated at various points with The Bunny, Eddie Kingston and the Hardy Family Office.

Their last AEW appearance was February 2025.

The Saturday show was a five-year anniversary event for a small Pittsburgh promotion. He was 48, he’d been out of a national contract for three months, and he was working an independent card in a theatre in a town of six thousand people because that’s what he wanted to be doing.

Atomic Rule were active. The ETID documentary was in progress. He was busy.

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An unusual life, taken plainly

There is a version of this story that makes Andy Williams a curiosity — the metalcore guitarist who became a wrestler, the novelty crossover, the guy with two answers to what do you do.

That undersells it badly.

He co-founded a band that ran for twenty-four years and never made a bad record, in a genre that has produced more disposable music than almost any other. He then built a second career, from scratch, in his thirties, in a physically brutal profession, and got to a national television contract with it.

Most people don’t finish one of those. He did two, and he was in the middle of a third act when it stopped.

Our thoughts are with his family, with Jordan and Keith Buckley, Steve Micciche, Clayton Holyoak and Daniel Davison, with The Blade, and with everyone in Buffalo and Pittsburgh who is having a very bad Sunday.

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TL;DR

• Andy Williams died on Saturday, September 5, 2026, aged 48. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed his death to TMZ on Sunday morning.
• What happened: he collapsed at the end of a tag team match at an Enjoy Wrestling event at Mr. Smalls Theatre in Millvale, Pennsylvania. Medical staff administered CPR before an ambulance arrived. The rest of the event was cancelled.
• Cause of death has not been announced and an investigation is underway.
• He co-founded Every Time I Die in Buffalo in 1998 and played rhythm guitar across nine albums until the band ended in 2022. He was not a bassist, despite several reports today.
• He trained as a wrestler before the band existed, quitting after a knee injury, then returned to it in his thirties — training with Josh Barnett, teaming with The Blade from 2017, and signing with AEW in November 2019.
• His AEW contract expired in June 2026 and he had returned to independent wrestling. His most recent band was Atomic Rule.
• Three weeks ago he said an Every Time I Die documentary project was in the works.

FAQ

Rest in peace, Andy. Keep it locked on the Loaded Radio stream — follow Loaded Radio for daily rock and metal news.

The post Andy Williams, Every Time I Die Founder And AEW’s The Butcher, Has Died At 48 appeared first on Loaded Radio.

Mornings have long inspired rock musicians, offering a powerful metaphor for fresh starts, reflection, and life’s daily struggles. In our article on the 10 best rock songs about mornings, we explore how artists from diverse musical backgrounds have captured the essence of this universal theme. From the soothing optimism of Cat Stevens’ “Morning Has Broken,” which celebrates the beauty and purity of a new day, to the energetic hustle depicted in The Beatles’ “Good Morning Good Morning,” mornings in rock music range from calm contemplation to the rush of everyday life. We also see morning depicted in more complex emotional

The post 10 Best Songs About Mornings In Rock Music appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

Rapid by name, rapid by nature. A simple but effective moniker for this rip-roaring trio emerging from the Helsinki underground with a gnarly and riotous speed, thrash, and old school black metal attack. Featuring additional lashings of classic heavy metal, punk, and death influences, Rapid unleash their retro brand of ugly, thrashy mayhem on debut album, Enter the Realm of Fire. And from the get-go, these dudes share a clear devotion of ye olden days of underground, piss-and-vinegar-drenched metal, creating an authentically twisted concoction, brooding with bombast, evil vibes, and over-the-top theatrics. The colorfully named trio, consisting of bassist/vocalist Vincent Revenge, drummer The Goon, and axe wielder Atte ‘Spectre’ Nikku, formed back in 2014. During this time, they spat out a couple of demos and 2022’s Blackstar Oppression Regime EP generating underground buzz. Boasting a mean, unvarnished sound, and metal cred up the ying-yang, can Rapid back things up with songwriting to match their trve old school values?

Following an unnecessary intro piece, Rapid launch into their work proper on the ripping “Witchcraft of Horror,” laying their cards on the table, flexing their blackened thrash and speed metal combo, taking cues from the likes of Venom, early Slayer, Mercyful Fate and modern retro heavyweights Bütcher and Midnight. It’s a raucous, unhinged formula to warm the blackened hearts of’80s metal and underground aficionados. Once more, Rapid is a deceptively nimble beast, wielding their crude weapons and vicious badassery with deft hands, threading slithering melodies and sinister atmospheres into the thrashing cauldron, where galloping speed, raucously blackened riffs and unhinged vocals conspire to wreak havoc. Revenge’s vocals lend the album a wickedly over-the-top and charismatic edge, as black-thrash howls, croaks, demented screams and a rough-around-the-edges cleaner style are unleashed.

Aside from the punkish, first-wave gallop and thrust of mid-album burner “Horemheb,” and epic, if slightly overcooked closer “Beyond the Gates of the Rapid Flames,” Rapid keep the songwriting sharp and punchy, much to the album’s advantage. While the raw slash-and-burn riffage reigns supreme, the melodic embellishments and occasional noteworthy soloing add layers of substance and intrigue to the otherwise cutthroat nature of the Rapid formula. The hugely energetic delivery, coupled with their feral streak and deft handling of tempo variations, helps maintain interest across the album’s duration. At its best, Enter the Realm of Fire goes hard and comes emblazoned with deadly hooks and killer atmosphere, such as those adorning the frosty death march of “Wielder of Might – Death from Above,” grimly venomous meloblack meets heavy metal grooves of “Black Poison,” and blackened heavy metal gallop exhibited on the hooky, over-the-top “Pest Eater.” Not all tracks hit the same heights, but it’s all pretty solid and enjoyable fare.

Enter the Realm of Fire comes armed and dangerous with a roughshod production that tramples modern production values into dust, complimenting the looser vibes and gritty underground aesthetics, without sacrificing overall bite, clarity and tasty dynamics. Rough production and looser vibes do not translate to sloppy performances. The trio bust out energetic, tightly synced performances, highlighted by Revenge’s unusual yet often compelling vocals and Spectre’s raw, menacing riffs, blazing melodies, and often eloquently shredded solos. There are slight ebbs and flows in song-to-song quality, though aside from the throwaway intro and almost comically odd slower-paced track “Gaze of the Black Void,” the album is uniformly solid with a few especially potent bangers.

Rapid’s accomplished debut comes as a pleasant surprise, skillfully straddling the line between nostalgia, ’80s metal trvness, and raw underground grit, while sounding fresh enough to stand on its own. Sure, influences are proudly adorned on their ragged battle vests, but there is ample upside to what Rapid have cooked up. A wild and venomous ride, Enter the Realm of Fire is a gleefully violent, old school metal rampage that largely overcomes its warts and all flaws with solidly entertaining songwriting. The future looks bright for these throwback underground warriors.

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Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320kbps mp3
Label: Dying Victims Productions
Websites: Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: August 21st, 2026

The post Rapid – Enter the Realm of Fire Review appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.

Hello again, dear readers. Now that the heat of summer is dying down and the leaves are beginning to turn, the spooky season is upon us and with it comes a slew of new creepy cool music. As Dying Scene’s resident spooky boy, I am here to guide you toward the best new sounds in dark and gloomy punk rock! What better place to start than with a brand new album from Boston’s own dark punk royalty, Gossip Collar.

Gossip Collar, made up of members of Boston punk legends The Showcase Showdown and Secret Hearts, began writing during the dreaded pandemic of 2020, building up a cache of brilliantly dark and atmospheric post-punk songs long before anyone even knew the group existed. Singer-Songwriter Victoria and drummer Megan worked for years on the collection before adding the vital missing pieces in guitarist Tom and bassist Mark. The group made their live debut in 2023, and soon after began releasing their secret sonic gold beginning with their self titled ep, followed by the incredible debut full length album Spinning Silk For Parasites in 2024.

Now, two years later we are blessed with the eagerly anticipated follow up, Eaten Of Worms. If you are a fan of dark wave and postpunk in the vein of The March Violets or Skeletal Family, there is plenty here to sink your fangs into. From the opening feedback of the first track “Disguise My Heart” through to the phased out reverb soaked dreamscape of closer “Merchants of the Wave”, the listener is taken on a journey through a cold terrain, warmed only by sparse bright leads that float above jagged beds of sharp guitars and drums that shift expertly from tribal stomps to pulsating dance beats in a matter befitting the 80’s London Batcave scene. Vocalist Victoria practically whispers her dark poetry in a doubled delivery drenched in reverb and dripping with a palpable sense of anxiety and dread. 

Overall, Eaten of Worms is a beautiful progression for Gossip Collar, and one that I’m sure will entice new followers while giving existing fans a brand new treasure trove of dark wave and death rock delights to drool over. The album is being distributed via Bat-Cave Productions out of Poland and will be available through the band’s Bandcamp on September 4th.

Gryphon experienced a remarkably busy periods in 1974. The release of not just Midnight Mushrumps but also Red Queen To Gryphon Three found them reaching a bigger audience than before, aided by a North American tour with Yes. In 2024 founding members Brian Gulland, Graeme Taylor and Dave Oberlé recalled those early years, and explained why they were still going.

In the history of prog there’s never been a band quite like Gryphon; and in the history of Gryphon there’s never been a year like 1974. Over 12 months, the group released not one but two fantastically ambitious albums; they also embarked upon a spectacular North American tour as the opening act for Yes.

Formed two years previously, the band’s genesis went back even further. Co-founding guitarist Graeme Taylor was nine when he first heard The Beatles, and describes the feeling as “like a cannonball [that had] hit me.” His parents promised to buy him a guitar; and, on Christmas Eve, “I woke up in the middle of the night and went halfway through the instruction book by about five in the morning. From then on, I was just fanatical about this instrument.”

He met fellow co-founder Richard Harvey at Tiffin’s boys’ school in Surrey. Not only did they share a number of interests, but they were both also involved in ensembles inspired by medieval and Elizabethan music. A few years later, Harvey encountered Brian Gulland while both were studying at the Royal College Of Music, and soon the trio began playing together.

Gulland was also young when his journey into music began. At eight, he enrolled in the Canterbury Cathedral Choir, where he enjoyed “five years of the most fantastic musical training.” During the first term, he recalls, “We were allowed to sit up on the lockers and watch the orchestra rehearse. I became inveigled by the deep farting noises of the bassoon.”

However, during his second year at the Royal College he decided to leave – much to the shock of his teachers and peers. “They were absolutely horrified, because nobody leaves; you have to fight to get in there. ‘What do you think you’re going to do, then?’ ‘Well, sir, I’ve got these vague ideas about playing Hammond organ in a rock band.’”

It was Harvey who persuaded Gulland to invest in a different instrument. “He came rushing up to me and said: ‘Come on, you’ve got to buy a crumhorn.’ I said, ‘What the hell are you talking about?’” He soon found out.

The band’s original incarnation was completed by percussionist Dave Oberlé. “I’d been a rock drummer,” he explains, “and to suddenly be confronted with all these very strange instruments, it was a question of how I was going to adapt.”

Oberlé had been another early starter. At 12, his parents bought him a snare drum and he was soon playing in local rock bands. He formed a group of his own, Juggernaut, “playing quite heavy rock with proggy influences.” When Taylor, Gulland and Harvey recruited him, it was, he says, “a baptism of fire” – but it wasn’t long before he settled in.

The quartet were playing local folk clubs when Transatlantic Records talent scout Laurence Aston approached them. “It didn’t take very long for him to spot us,” says Taylor, “because we were unusual. We suddenly found ourselves with a recording contract in a makeshift studio, making our first album.”

Gryphon’s self-titled debut, released in June 1973, caused quite a stir with its fantastical blend of medieval and modern instrumentation. “Suddenly we became a household name,” recalls Taylor, “big pictures, centre-spreads; everyone knew who Gryphon was.”

Transatlantic’s press officer, Martin Lewis, was a key factor in their raised profile, too. “He was an absolute genius,” affirms Oberlé, “mad as a box of frogs, but a great marketing man.” It was through Lewis’s efforts that Gryphon became the first band to be played on all four BBC radio stations in the same week. Yet their biggest success was still to come.

During 1974 they released two further albums of startlingly inventive music – Midnight Mushrumps and Red Queen To Gryphon Three. By now, bass player Philip Nestor had joined. Both sets were recorded at the Chipping Norton Recording Studio in Oxfordshire, engineered by Dave Grinsted, the mastermind behind Caravan’s In The Land Of Grey And Pink. Musically, however, the two Gryphon records were put together on the fly.

It was shot in the middle of the night… if you look at the sleeve closely, you’ll see bright red noses because we were absolutely freezing

Dave Oberlé

“It was highly irresponsible in retrospect,” says Gulland. “These days you wouldn’t do it. But yes, we didn’t have any of that ‘getting it together in the country’ in a cottage for months. We went in and we cobbled together bits and pieces as we went.” This organic approach was made easier by the studio’s live-in accommodation and 24-hour access.

“We used to go up into Brian’s room,” recalls Taylor, “just sit there on the bed composing. We never really wrote it down, or if we did it was on the back of a fag packet. We’d work for half an hour and then go down to the studio to record it – we’d get Dave Grinsted up.”

“We were pretty adept at interpreting and performing each other’s material,” adds Gulland. “We thought, ‘Oh, this is a good challenge. I need to practise this for 30 seconds.’ Then we’d try and record it. There was some manuscript paper flying around as well as the backs of envelopes.”

The atmosphere of spontaneity was clearly inspiring and resulted in some beautiful and intricate material. The free-wheeling spirit even extended to the Midnight Mushrumps cover. “It was actually shot in Windsor Great Park in the middle of the night,” explains Oberlé, “which is why, if you look at the sleeve closely, you’ll see bright red noses because we were absolutely freezing.”

The flamboyant clothing they wore for the shot also came from a surprising source. “We’d stolen lots of costumes from the National Theatre wardrobe and carted them into the park,” says Taylor. “I remember making the crêpe-paper mushrooms with chicken wire and lots of old newspapers soaked in gum.”

The Yes Album blew my socks off. Soon there was a kind of mutual admiration society going on between the two bands

Brian Gulland

Released in April, Mushrumps featured five original numbers, plus a cover of the traditional Ploughboy’s Dream. Fleshed out by Nestor’s pulsing bass, the band sounded even more polished and adventurous than on their debut. The title track – an intricate 19-minute suite – was partly adapted from music they’d composed at the request of renowned theatre director Peter Hall, to accompany a production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

That led to another first for Gryphon: they became the first rock band to play a live gig at London’s historic Old Vic Theatre; they remain part of a select number of musical artists to have played there. “We had Ivor Cutler supporting us,” remembers Gulland, “Jon Anderson, Steve Howe and Chris Squire of Yes came along, too.”

Gulland had formed a friendship with Yes a few years previously. He recalls seeing them play at the Roundhouse in Dagenham: “My cousin said, ‘Brian, I think you’d really like this band.’ So we jumped into his Austin-Healey Sprite and whizzed up to this little club. They’d just brought out The Yes Album, and it blew my socks off. Soon there was a kind of mutual admiration society going on between the two bands.”

It was a connection which would soon prove fateful. But first, Gryphon returned to the studio to work on third record Red Queen To Gryphon Three. “We thought of that as our concept album,” Taylor remembers, “loosely hung on a game of chess. The approach to recording was much the same.”

Consisting of four extended tracks, each a multi-segmented masterpiece of astounding variety, Red Queen was destined to become a cult classic and remains one of their most popular albums, even now. Given the extraordinary standard of playing across a whirlwind of sonic twists and turns, it’s not hard to understand why.

In terms of the size of the gigs, it was comparatively small… probably 10 or 11,000

Brian Gulland

At the recommendation of fellow Royal College alumnus Rick Wakeman, Gryphon scored a new manager, Brian Lane, and soon found themselves supporting Yes on their 1974 North American tour. “It was absolutely spectacular,” says Oberlé of the experience.

Gullard adds: “33 gigs in 38 days with a plane-hop in between each one.” The frantic schedule took some adjusting to, as the band were ushered between soundchecks, gigs, hotels and airports over and over again.

“You didn’t know where you were,” remembers Taylor – and it wasn’t only the pace that was challenging.

“I think the first place that we landed was Madison, Wisconsin,” Oberlé says, “and I distinctly remember walking into the gig, looking around and thinking, ‘My God, I’ve never seen anything quite like this!’ You suddenly thought, ‘We’re going to be playing here in front of thousands of people.’”

The Dane County Coliseum – now known as Veterans Memorial Coliseum – is part of a multi-venue complex used for sporting events and expos as well as concerts. Gulland recalls that the main arena where they played was a huge basketball arena, which “looked like a UFO from the outside. I think in terms of the size of the gigs, it was comparatively small. It was probably 10 or 11,000-seater, but it looked enormous to us.”

Despite the schedule, the band still found time to relax, absorbing and recording music from the multitude of radio stations across the country. Taylor and Gulland even brought themselves ghetto blasters in Miami. “I got seriously into the Grateful Dead,” says Taylor, “listening with speakers held up on either side of my head.”

It became fashionable to not be able to play your instrument very well. Unfortunately, we weren’t bad

Graeme Taylor

Back in the UK, Gryphon continued their support tour with Yes and recorded another album, Raindance, the following year; but things weren’t quite the same. Taylor left shortly afterwards, and the band recorded one final album, 1977’s Treason, before disbanding in the shadow of punk.

“The whole thing just changed that fast,” says Oberlé. “We knew the writing was on the wall. Had Gryphon started a little earlier we might have survived. Yes and Genesis managed to get through it, but we hadn’t really gotten to that point.”

As Taylor neatly puts it: “It became fashionable to not be able to play your instrument very well. Unfortunately, we weren’t bad.”

There followed a lengthy hiatus until a surprise reunion in 2009, prompted by the discovery of a flourishing fan community. “A guy called Eduardo Mota started the website,” Oberlé explains. “We saw it had been hit by about 200,000 people. We thought, ‘Oh my God, there’s something going on.’ Otherwise, why would people bother?”

“We’d forgotten about ourselves by then,” adds Taylor. “We’d forgotten about Gryphon. It became evident that the rest of the world hadn’t.”

Fifteen years on, Gryphon are flying high with an updated line-up that includes Taylor’s daughter, Clare, on vocals and violin; reed player Andy Findon; and Rob Levy on bass. Although Harvey left to pursue other avenues, the new-look band are back on the road and are working on the studio follow-up to 2020’s Get Out Of My Father’s Car!

They’re clearly thriving, and Oberlé thinks he knows why: “There is still nothing quite like Gryphon – even now.”

According to several news outlets, Andy “The Butcher” Williams, a professional AEW wrestler and guitarist of already disbanded metalcore group Every Time I Die, has passed away at the age of 48. Andy died yesterday after experiencing a medical emergency during a tag team match in Pennsylvania, PA according to authorities. As a guitar player, he was still active as a member of the band Atomic Rule.
Read more…

Another show, another light-hearted moment for the re-energized band. Continue reading…

International heavy metal act Defenders Of The Faith have shared a brand new single, “Snakebite Passion Play”. The latter will appear on the group’s next studio album of which details are yet to be disclosed.
Read more…

Absolutely terrible news.

The post Andy Williams (Atomic Rule, Ex-Every Time I Die) Has Passed Away appeared first on Theprp.com.

Hint: They're considered a pioneer of deathcore! Continue reading…