Rob Arnold (born January 3, 1980) is an American musician, best known for performing as the

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

ist of the metal band

Chimaira Chimaira ( ) is an American heavy metal music, heavy metal band from Cleveland, Ohio. Formed in August 1998, the band's name is derived from the word Chimera (mythology), Chimera, a monstrous creature in Greek mythology. Throughout its history, ...

and later as a guitarist of the death metal band Six Feet Under. In an interview with

Roadrunner Records Roadrunner Records is a Dutch–American record label focused on Heavy metal music, heavy metal and hard rock music. Founded in the Netherlands in 1980, it is now a division of Warner Music Group and is based in New York City. Formerly seen as ...

, he named

Kirk Hammett Kirk Lee Hammett (born November 18, 1962) is an American musician who has been the lead guitarist of heavy metal band Metallica since 1983. Prior to joining Metallica, he co-formed the thrash metal band Exodus in 1979. In 2023, Hammett, along ...

, "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott,

Dave Mustaine David Scott Mustaine (born September 13, 1961) is an American musician. He is best known as the co-founder, frontman, primary songwriter and sole consistent member of the thrash metal band Megadeth and for his time as the lead guitarist of Met ...

Marty Friedman (born December 8, 1962) is an American guitarist, best known for his tenure as the lead guitarist of thrash metal band Megadeth from 1990 to 2000. He is also known for playing alongside Jason Becker in Cacophony from 1986 until 1989, as well ...

and

Kerry King Kerry Ray King (born June 3, 1964) is an American musician, best known for being the co-lead guitarist and songwriter of thrash metal band Slayer. He co-founded the band with Jeff Hanneman in 1981 and is one of two members to stay with the band ...

as being influential to his playing style. Arnold is endorsed by

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 ...

and has his own signature model, the RA-600, which has an M body shape based on the ESP LTD m-1000. In Chimaira, Arnold preferred the drop-C tuning (CGCFAD). He also uses custom ESP 7-string guitars, tuned to drop-A (AEADGBE). Arnold has been a long-time user of Peavey amps, using the 5150II since the beginning of Chimaira. Since the mid-2000s, he uses a Peavey 6505+ amp head paired with a Mesa Boogie Cabinet. During the mid-2000s, he released a Signature Series guitar with ESP Guitars based on his custom RA-3 model. It is called the ESP LTD RA-600. He also has an instructional DVD available through The Rock House Method which focuses on metal guitar, soloing, riffing, and song writing. Arnold is the lead guitarist for his band, The Elite, with former Baphomet/Stemm front man T.J. Frost, and Bleed the Sky/

DevilDriver DevilDriver is an American heavy metal music, heavy metal band from Santa Barbara, California, Santa Barbara, California, formed in 2002, consisting of vocalist Dez Fafara, bassist Jon Miller, guitarist Alex Lee and drummer Davier Pérez. The b ...

drummer Austin D'Amond. They released an EP titled ''WW3'' in July 2009, and their debut full-length album ''Total Destruction'' in September 2018. On February 27, 2011, it was announced that Arnold along with fellow Chimaira guitarist

Matt DeVries Matthew DeVries (born January 28, 1977) is an American musician. He is the rhythm guitarist in the metal band Chimaira and the former bassist in Fear Factory. During his time with Chimaira, he, along with lead guitarist Rob Arnold and singer ...

, and former Chimaira drummer,

Kevin Talley Kevin Talley (born May 21, 1979) is an American extreme metal drummer for Sylencer and Feared. He was part of Dying Fetus, Misery Index, Six Feet Under, Nothnegal, Chimaira, Suffocation and Dååth, and toured with Battlecross in 2013. Hist ...

, would be joining the band Six Feet Under. Arnold, Talley, and Six Feet Under vocalist, Chris Barnes, wrote and recorded 2011's ''Undead'', then briefly toured Europe and the United States. In November 2011, it was confirmed that Arnold would be leaving Chimaira after their Chimaira Christmas '11 show for personal reasons. On May 22, 2012, Six Feet Under announced that guitarist

Ola Englund Ola "The Swede" Englund (born 27 September 1981) is a Swedish guitarist, YouTuber, record producer, and the owner of Solar Guitars. He is a founding member of the band Feared, plays lead guitar in the Swedish Heavy metal band, heavy metal band T ...

would be replacing Arnold, who planned to retire from touring. The band suggested that Arnold may perhaps remain a central writing partner and collaborator on future Six Feet Under releases.

Discography

;Chimaira *''

This Present Darkness ''This Present Darkness'' is a Christian novel by suspense, Horror fiction, horror, and Fantasy literature, fantasy author Frank E. Peretti. Published in 1986 by Good News Publishers, Crossway Books after first being rejected by fourteen publis ...

'' (2000) *''

Pass Out of Existence ''Pass Out of Existence'' is the debut studio album by American heavy metal music, heavy metal band Chimaira, released on October 2, 2001. According to vocalist Mark Hunter (musician), Mark Hunter, as of 2003, the band has sold 44,000 copies of ...

'' (2001) *''

The Impossibility of Reason ''The Impossibility of Reason'' is the second studio album by the American heavy metal band Chimaira, released on May 13, 2003. It is the first album to feature Matt DeVries on rhythm guitar. The album is a noted for its groove metal-oriented s ...

'' (2003) *''

'' (2005) *''

Resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions involving the same person or deity returning to another body. The disappearance of a body is anothe ...

'' (2007) *''

The Infection ''The Infection'' is the fifth studio album by American heavy metal music, heavy metal band Chimaira. Released in the US on April 20, 2009, and worldwide on April 24, it reached position 30 on the Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200 charts on it ...

'' (2009) *''

The Age of Hell ''The Age of Hell'' is the sixth studio album by American heavy metal band Chimaira. The album was released on August 16, 2011. The album sold more than 7,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 5 ...

'' (2011) ;Six Feet Under *''

Undead The undead are beings in mythology, legend, or fiction that are deceased but behave as if they were alive. A common example of an undead being is a cadaver, corpse reanimated by supernatural forces, by the application of either the deceased's o ...

'' (2012) *'' Unborn'' (2013) * ''Unburied'' (2018) ;The Elite * ''The WW3 EP'' (2009) * ''Total Destruction'' (2018) ;The Disaster * ''Healing Process'' (2018) ;Rob Arnold (solo artist) * ''Magnitude'' (2022) * ''Menace'' (2023)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnold, Rob 1980 births Living people American lead guitarists Musicians from Cleveland American heavy metal guitarists Guitarists from Ohio Chimaira members Six Feet Under (band) members 21st-century American guitarists