Richard Brunelle RIP

[Cryptic Stench]

Seemed like the chap battled some serious demons.... RIP, fantastic contribution to the early MA material.

[Eoin McLove]

Yeah,  shit news.  Only 55 years old which is no real age.  RIP

[Paul keohane]

Played on some of the most import albums in DM history,RIP.

[leatherface]

Rest in peace.

'Blessed are the sick' is one of my favourite albums.

[Trev]

RIP, they had some great stuff aftet he left byt nothing could top those first two. I remember buying a crappy acoustic years ago just to learn Desolate Ways

[Juggz]

Brutal news. I had BATS blasting yesterday. Desolate Ways is one of my favourite parts of the album, it always catches my undivided attention.

[Carnage]

RIP. Blessed Are The Sick is one of my top 5 DM albums, 55 is no age. No mention of cause of death but he was in and out of jail for drug-related offences, so it's probably to do with that. A shame.

[Pedrito]

Desolate Ways one of the great accoustic metal songs, I must have listened to it a million times. RIP.

[mickO)))]

How did he die?

[Eoin McLove]

Suffocation!

I'll get my coat...

[SligoWhiplash]

McGonagles gig in Dec '91, Great to have seen them live at their best...RIP

[The Ancient Ones]

Sad news. Given he was in Azagthoth's shadow I think many people write off Brunelle's contribution to Morbid too easily. Nearly every RIP post I've seen the last few days has name checked Altars and Blessed (obviously) but it's easy to forget he was in the band long before those having joined in 1985 - before Dave Vincent and Pete Sandoval - and performed on their legendary demos and the abortive Abominations of Desolation album. He was there right through the period that they transitioned from a speed metal band to a genre defining death metal band. His writing credits are of course limited to a single song - Desolate Ways (and wasn't that a jaw dropper to many a teenager spinning BATS for the first time in 91?) - but I do wonder if his contributions went beyond that. Certainly, his soloing differed from Azagthoth's - being more 'classic' and with more feeling than Trey's 'lava' and TBH I always preferred Brunelle's. Perhaps he acted as a muse of sorts for Trey? Moreso than most bands, we are blessed (see what I did there?) to have a wealth of old Morbid gigs on Youtube and I love watching gigs from the 89 - 91 era (I recommend the 1991 Cincinnati and San Antonio ones) - seeing Trey and Brunelle trading leads on Abominations and Thy Kingdom Come never gets old and they really seem to be ENJOYING themselves. Sure, after Brunelle's departure they stepped it up a level technically and released great stuff but I think it also marked the point they went from being a bunch of young guys filled with 'piss and vinegar' to a group of men who were doing this as a job. Some interesting points from Brunelle's era too: according to Mike Browning on FB the other day he did  the vocals as well for a while (he links a show) but couldn't really hack doing both at the same time. In Vincent's absence he was also the spokesman for the group in press conferences etc and, according to many, the most down to earth of the members.

He certainly had his demons since he left Morbid, being left with what was obviously a serious cocaine habit. He was arrested on and off for a number of years, and jailed a couple of times but, to his credit, seemed to having been getting things together the last while - his last arrest was in 2014. He'd been trying to get going in music again - to my knowledge he'd sold all his gear and literally didn't even own a guitar any more. He released a couple of songs under the Mosaic Covenant name last year in what seems to have been an attempt to get some cash to buy some guitar gear - I think I was one of the few to buy them. They were bizarre - just keyboards, and utter scutter altogether but at least he was trying. He even tried to get a groundswell movement going on Facebook to rejoin Morbid when Dave and Destructhor were booted out a few years ago.

On his death, no cause has been released but, given the language used by his family, I do suspect it was by his own hand, but that is obviously just speculation.

RIP Richard Brunelle.

[Pedrito]

That's a great summation there. There's a massive difference in the Morbid Angel he was in and the one he wasn't in. I've always been mainly into the albums he was on without consciously realising it I suppose, but when you take a step back, he must have brought an influence to their sound that couldn't just be 'replaced' by another guitarist.

We often get blinded by the songwriting titles on albums. Yes, the songwriter is important, conceiving the initial idea, but there is a whole organic transformation that takes place once that idea is planted in the minds of a small group.of musicians that share a vision.

Also, the influences are not only working from the songwriter outwards, but in the opppsite way also, with the initial idea possibly being written towards a certain bandmember's skillset or whatever. That's why these one in a million albums.are so hard to replicate because it's never only one person in the band that creates that band sound and album vibe. Brunelle obviously, from listening to the work hhe featured on, had a huge impact on what MA were at the time, and it's cool to read a history of that, as I knew very little about the man if I'm honest.

[Snare]

Two great posts there The Ancient Ones and Pedrito, thanks for taking the time to stick them together.

I must check those live concerts thanks TAO.

It sure is sad the way so many musicians pass away unexpectedly. I'm beginning to think there won't be any golden oldie bands putting on shows in Spanish resorts when we're in our 60's and70's