Ralph Santolla (December 8, 1966 – June 7, 2018) was an

Italian-American Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern ...

heavy metal guitarist. He played in many bands, most notably

Deicide Deicide is the killing (or the killer) of a god. The concept may be used for any act of killing a god, including a life-death-rebirth deity who is killed and then resurrected. Etymology The term deicide was coined in the 17th century from ...

, but also including Eyewitness,

Death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

(he never recorded any of their albums, but toured with them in 1993 and appeared in "The Philosopher" video), Millenium,

Iced Earth Iced Earth is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band currently composed of only Jon Schaffer, formed in Tampa, Florida, and based in Columbus, Indiana. They were formed in 1984 under the name the Rose, then Purgatory, by guitarist, ma ...

, and the

Sebastian Bach Sebastian Philip Bierk (born April 3, 1968), known professionally as Sebastian Bach, is a Canadian-American singer who achieved mainstream success as the frontman of the hard rock band Skid Row from 1987 to 1996. He has acted on Broadway and h ...

band. In 2007, he replaced Allen West in

Obituary An obituary (wikt:obit#Etymology 2, obit for short) is an Article (publishing), article about a recently death, deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as Article (publishing), news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on p ...

for their album ''Xecutioner's Return''.

Musical career

Ralph Santolla was born on December 8, 1966. He played with

on their 1993 US tour. He later joined Deicide after Eric and Brian Hoffman left the band. He was coincidentally Eric Hoffman's guitar teacher for a brief period. According to Hoffman, when asked if he harbored any animosity towards Santolla for replacing him in the band: "He gave me two guitar lessons for a Marshall cab. He still owes me some lessons. No problem, other than some lessons, or some cash. You have the Internet to be your teacher. You can learn all the scales and modes, all the tabs. It is awesome. That is your new teacher, the computer." At a 2006 Deicide gig in

Laredo, Texas Laredo ( ; ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Webb County, Texas, Webb County, on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Founded in 1755, Laredo grew from a villag ...

that got out of control, Santolla was arrested for allegedly throwing a

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks created and owned by the Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With a market share of 43%, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2020, and the third most valuable soft drink brand, behind Coca-Cola and ...

can at an officer after Deicide was forced to stop playing. He had frequently talked about starting his own band with

Steve DiGiorgio Steve Di Giorgio (born November 7, 1967) is an American bass guitarist. He is known for his work with numerous heavy metal bands such as Sadus (of which he was a co-founder), Death, Testament, Megadeth, Sebastian Bach, Iced Earth, Autopsy, Obit ...

and

Gene Hoglan Eugene Victor Hoglan II (born August 31, 1967) is an American drummer, acclaimed for his creativity in drum arrangements, including use of abstract devices for percussion effects and his trademark lengthy double-kick drum rhythms. Though his pla ...

, both of whom he worked with in

. Before his death he was working on a new solo instrumental album, titled ''Requiem for Hope''. This is his second solo album, his first was ''

Shaolin Monks in the Temple of Metal Shaolin may refer to: * Shaolin Monastery, or Shaolin Temple, a Buddhist monastery in Henan province, China * Shaolin Kung Fu, a martial art associated with the monastery in Henan, China * Southern Shaolin Monastery, an alleged Buddhist monastery ...

''. On May 24, 2007, Santolla left Deicide for undisclosed reasons. Also in 2007, Santolla was called in to fill the spot on

's album ''

Xecutioner's Return ''Xecutioner's Return'' is the seventh studio album by American death metal band Obituary, released on August 28, 2007 through Candlelight Records. The title of the album is derived from the band's original band name, which was ''Xecutioner''. T ...

'' and the subsequent '' Left To Die'' EP, replacing Allen West after he was incarcerated until 2008. In 2010 he rejoined

. In 2011, he departed Deicide for the final time. He played guitar on Deathembers debut album ''Going Postal'' track 9 ''Hailing Down''. In 2013 Santolla became member of thrash metal band Toxik. Santolla's last recording would be released right before his death. He played guest guitar on the song "From Neptune Towards Assyria" for the band

Order ov Riven Cathedrals Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * H ...

from Rome, Italy on their 2018 release "Göbekli Tepe" and on the song "They Will Listen To The Dead" for the band BlightMass from Lyon/Tampa on their 2019 release "Severed From Your Soul". While the album has been released after his death, the song and the album are dedicated to him.

Artistry and equipment

Santolla most recently played

Jackson Guitars Jackson is a brand of guitars sold by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. Jackson was originally an independent manufacturer of electric guitars and electric bass guitars named after its founder, the American luthier Grover Jackson. Th ...

, though he had also been associated with

ESP Guitars is a Japanese guitar manufacturer, primarily focused on the production of electric guitars and basses. They are based in both Tokyo and Los Angeles, with distinct product lines for each market. ESP Company manufactures instruments under sever ...

Dean Guitars Dean Guitars, commonly referred to simply as Dean, is an American importer and maker of stringed instruments and musical products with its headquarters in Tampa, Florida, Tampa, Florida. Its products include solid-body electric guitars, bass gu ...

and many others. He also used

Randall Amplifiers Randall Amplifiers is a manufacturer of solid-state and tube guitar amplifiers. Randall Amplifiers is currently a brand of U.S. Music Corporation, U.S. Music Corp., a subsidiary of Canada, Canadian corporate group Exertis , JAM. History After ...

. He was well known for his

shred guitar Shred guitar is a virtuosic style of electric guitar performance. Categorized by its use of advanced techniques, shredding is a complex art form. Shred guitar includes fast alternate picking, sweep-picking, diminished and harmonic minor scales, t ...

playing style. Glen Benton described Santolla as a "

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia *Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria ** Marshall railway station Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Is ...

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple ani ...

-turned-on- 11 kind of guy."

Death

On May 31, 2018, it was reported that Santolla had suffered a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

and fallen into a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...

. He was taken off life support and died on June 6, 2018; he was 51 years old. Glen Benton stated that him and Santolla had "made peace" prior to his death, going as far to say "I hope he's in a better place and I hope he's happy."

Personal life

Santolla was a practicing

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, which caused some controversy among

fans, many of whom are against Christianity and are aware of frontman Glen Benton's open

Satanism Satanism refers to a group of religious, ideological, or philosophical beliefs based on Satan—particularly his worship or veneration. Because of the ties to the historical Abrahamic religious figure, Satanism—as well as other religious ...

. Many were surprised that Benton even allowed Santolla join the band, due to his frequent criticism of the religion. However, Santolla stated that he was "not going to pretend to be some dark and evil person just so people think I'm

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

," and also stated that he respected Benton for not being afraid to be true to himself, despite differences in their religion and beliefs. He also said his religious background "doesn't have anything to do with Deicide." He said, "I think alot of these stupid fucks who are so up in arms about bands like Deicide ..It's stupid. If they want to like, really worry about evil and shit like that, they shouldn't be worrying about a metal band, they should be worrying about child molesters and fuckin'

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and things like that." Santolla took pride in his

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

heritage, and he played guitars by

Jackson Jackson may refer to: Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson South, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson oil field in Durham, ...

and

Ibanez is a Japanese guitar brand owned by Hoshino Gakki. Based in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Aichi, Japan, Hoshino Gakki was one of the first Japanese musical instrument companies to gain a significant foothold in import guitar sales in the United Stat ...

with the

Italian flag The flag of Italy (, ), often referred to as The Tricolour (, ), is a flag featuring three equally sized vertical pales of green, white and red, with the green at the hoist side, as defined by Article 12 of the Constitution of the Italian Repub ...

painted onto them, as seen in Death's " The Philosopher" video.

Discography

With Eyewitness

* '' Eyewitness'' (1995) * ''

Messiah Complex The messiah complex is a mental state in which a person believes they are a messiah or prophet and will save or redeem people in a religious endeavour. The term can also refer to a state of mind in which an individual believes that they are respo ...

'' (1996)

With Millenium

* '' Millenium'' (1997) * ''

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'' (1999) * ''

Hourglass An hourglass (or sandglass, sand timer, or sand clock) is a device used to measure the passage of time. It comprises two glass bulbs connected vertically by a narrow neck that allows a regulated flow of a substance (historically sand) from the ...

'' (2000) * '' The Best of... and More'' – Compilation (2004) * ''

Jericho Jericho ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It had a population of 20,907 in 2017. F ...

'' (2004)

With Iced Earth

* '' The Glorious Burden'' (2004)

With Deicide

* '' The Stench of Redemption'' (2006) * '' Till Death Do Us Part'' (2008) * '' To Hell with God'' (2011)

With Obituary

* ''

'' (2007) * '' Left to Die'' (EP) (2008) * ''

Darkest Day ''Darkest Day'' is the eighth studio album by the American death metal band Obituary. It was released on June 30, 2009, through Candlelight Records. ''Darkest Day'' is the final Obituary album to feature both longtime bassist Frank Watkins, w ...

'' (2009) * Tardy Brother’s Bloodline (2009)

With Gary Hughes

* '' Precious Ones'' (1998)

Order ov Riven Cathedrals

* '' Göbekli Tepe - track 5 - From Neptune Towards Assyria'' (2018)

Solo albums