Chicago's Metal Scene in Mourning — Shaun Glass Dies Aged 57

The metal community is mourning Shaun Glass. The guitarist died on 1 July 2026 at the age of 57 from complications of a stroke he had suffered a month earlier, on 31 May. His wife Michelle announced his death and asked for privacy for the family; the couple married in 2010 and welcomed their son in 2012.

For more than four decades Glass was a fixture of the Chicago metal scene. In the 1980s he started out with Terminal Death and Sindrome, then played bass for death metallers Broken Hope. In 1997 he co-founded SOiL, where as a guitarist he enjoyed his greatest commercial success — above all with the album "Scars" and its hit "Halo". After leaving in 2007 came Dirge Within, a return to Broken Hope, and from 2018 his most recent band, Repentance.

Their third album "Retaliate" was already finished and announced for July; the release was postponed after his medical emergency.

The response from the scene was immense: Machine Head's Robb Flynn described Glass as someone who genuinely lived metal, punk and hardcore. Exodus guitarist Gary Holt spoke of a 30-year friendship, while Nonpoint drummer Robb Rivera called him his daily newswire for all things heavy. His former SOiL bandmates also spoke up: despite their estrangement since his departure, he had been an integral part of the band in the early years and, for a long time, a good friend.

Source: BraveWords.