Wade Allison, guitarist for Texas hardcore band Iron Age, has passed away. 20 Buck Spin, the label that reissued the band’s 2009 album The Sleeping Eye last year, confirmed the news via Instagram.
“RIP Wade. So very grateful to you for giving me an opportunity to be a small part of the @realironage lore,” they wrote. “Condolences to all his friends and family. Iron Age’s impact is huge and will reverberate in hardcore and metal for a long time to come.” A cause of death has yet to be revealed.
Aside from The Sleeping Eye, Iron Age’s debut album 2006’s Constant Struggle was also influential in the world of hardcore.
In 2017, Riley Gale of fellow Texas thrash band Power Trip, praised Allison’s guitar work in an interview with The Guardian. “Power Trip definitely wouldn’t be the band we are without Iron Age. Those guys are sort of like our older brothers, and showed me a lot of really good music, not just thrash metal but a lot of cool shit in general,” he said. “The way Wade Allison writes his riffs is like no other guitar player that I can name, and I think it’s insane to have had a band that had a style that was so distinctly their own.”
Gale tragically passed away last month at the age of 34 and was commemorated by everyone from friends, colleagues, and other bands, to Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld.
“Rest In Peace to our brother Wade Allison of Iron Age,” Power Trip tweeted last night. “Thank you for your friendship, brilliant music, and endless inspiration.”
Fucked Up’s Damian Abraham also paid tribute to Allison via Twitter. “He was our brother. A musical inspiration and a god of this shit,” he wrote. “Wade forever.”
