It is with deep regret that we announce the passing of our friend and staff member, Chris Santaniello aka "Diamhea", on Monday May 21st 2018.

Our official statement:



Our sincere and heartfelt condolences to his family.

Been spinning Overkill all day in his memory. Farewell, friend, we will miss you.

EDIT:

If anyone would like to donate to help Diamhea's family with funeral costs and the like, you can do so here: https://www.gofundme.com/ceremony-for-chris

This was really shitty news to see when I got off work. I'm gonna do what I can to keep up his pace in the review queue from now on (and maybe get around to giving Overkill a positive review finally in his honor).

RIP, holmes.

I’m in shock. Seriously this is awful.

Fare thee well Diam, we'll miss you my friend.

Very sad news. Tragically young.

Condolences to his family.

R.I.P.

I'm very saddened to hear this tragic news. He was way too young to go. Rest in peace, friend. You will not be forgotten.

No way! That's horrible news!

Rest in piece, brother of metal

Holy shit, no. Saw this at the top and couldn't believe what I was reading. Oh man, that's terrible. RIP Diamhea, you had my back, man.

May Christopher Santaniello (Diamhea) forever live through his music and work.

Requiescat in pace carus amicus

You shall be missed, Dia.

Had a few personal chats with him here and there. R.I.P. man...

Wow. So young. May he rest in peace.

One of the worst things to wake up to. Knew Dia's musical work waaaaay before on Myspace before I even met him here. I still have some of the old Morannon demos from way back. Gonna go listen to those today.

RIP

So sorry to hear this. My next beer will be for him. RIP Diamhea.

Rip Diamhea. I never post here, but I love anyone that contributes to this awesome site. I'm really sad to see this.

I'm stunned, this is awful news. Really wish I spoke with him more, he seemed like such an awesome guy.

RIP Diamhea

It was an honor to work on the site with Dia. Going to be listening to Overkill for the next few hours. Rest in peace.

Reminded me of this (2:58), rip bro...

Such horrible news this is. I remember spending hours and hours talking to you Diamhea on the old IRC chatroom about random stuff into the wee hours of the morning, and we'd always get along really well. I'd definitely have considered you my closest chat buddy on the old IRC. Fanboying about Summoning, and joking at each other about who has more Obituary vs Overkill last.fm plays. Or that time you stood up for me and had my back on the forums, when I wrote that meanie Carcass review years ago. So very sad right now.

I was hoping to get to meet Diamhea some day, at MDF or some other fest. It won't happen. Just goes to show that life is short and you need to take advantage of the opportunities you do have when you have them.

RIP buddy, you'll be greatly missed. See you in Valhalla.

I don't think I've ever conversed with someone that shared my love for Overkill as much as him. I've had many an encounter with him on the forums, and a few on Facebook, as well. Christopher "Diamhea" Santaniello will be greatly missed. R.I.P

Oh wow i have seen him post and read his reviews i didn't expect him to pass that is tragic i am sorry to hear that so young.

RIP

I don't know what to say, I'm stunned. He was I think the first person on this site to reach out to me and give me pointers on my reviews and he introduced me to so many awesome bands. This place won't be the same without him, for sure.

Hell no! He was here and made corrections just two days ago!
I wish to believe it's an awful silly joke
Does someone know what has happened?

RIP

He had heart problems.

I highly doubt it. I hate to admit it, but my first instinct was "early set up to April Fools' prank", but then I realized April becomes BEFORE May, not after it.

This gave me a mental blue screen when I read it. It's just so profoundly shocking because it was so sudden and so sad...

RIP, man.

31, Jesus Christ. Never had any personal interactions with him, but his contributions here were immense. One of the cogs that makes this the best metal resource on the net.

RIP, Diamhea.

I like how his last post was taking the piss out of somebody, though. lol

Last hail from Russia, man.
Rest from all this bustling world.

spinning some overkill right now. rip mate.

What. What? Is this for real? Jesus...

31 is a horribly young age to go. I can't believe it. Dia was a stern, solid presence as a mod here and his contributions to all things review-related cannot be overstated.

R.I.P., brother. I'll be spinning Horrorscope in your honour tonight.

very surreal that such a cornerstone of our community just drops away like that. Very surreal that somebody I've been talking with online for years just is not there any more.

I will have to play rhapsody at a party in his honour.

Oh my god that's horrible. I heard the news from Morrigan's post on the Free-For-All Thread and I instantly stopped breathing for a while, then I thought it was just his departure. I instantly stopped the music I was listening to in order to read the post here.

31 is so fucking young. Like more than half of your life got suddenly wasted. That's dreadful. Never talked to him directly, he was just the one to accept (and then refuse) all my reviews but I really wished I could one day. He seemed to be really a nice person.

Rest in peace Diamhea.

RIP buddy.

Absolutely devastating news. He was always so good with the reviews and I'm sure he did so much more behind the scenes, as well. A worthy contributor to the Archives and his absence is going to be felt for a long time.

R.I.P. Diamhea. Your work is now done.

Wow, that is way too young. My condolences to his family and everybody here who knew him well.

To read how much he’s beloved here as well as for his music and wherever he’s known prior to and outside of MA is bittersweet, but also not suprising. Just a stand up guy who anyone could jump right into a thread and converse with, always had entertaining reviews, and was more than capable of doing what had to be done as a mod if necessary, too. Kinda envious I didn’t have quite the same connection a lot of you did, honestly. Definitely one of many here it would’ve been fun to shoot the shit with if the opportunity permitted. Here’s hoping he passed quickly with no suffering - he earned at least that much.

Thanks, Diamhea.

Pure sass. I love it. <3

My heart sank reading this. He was always a chill dude, always friendly and dedicated to his work on this site. He became the rock of the workload here, always going the extra mile.

RIP brother, until we meet again.