There are a number of metal news sources that are reporting that the grave of the late Lance “Dimebag” Darrell Lance Abbott, guitarist of Pantera and Damageplan, was recently vandalized and defaced. The supposed culprit appears to be a former vocalist of a Fort Wayne, IN blackened death/thrash/crust band called Nuclear Hellfrost. The incident appears to have taken place (or was at least posted) last night (Friday, February 27) and was photographed and commented on in an Istagram post under the username “crustyplague.” Both pages have been deleted, but various screengrabs show the photo in question with the following caption, describing the actions in question and apparent motive:
“i HATE pantera…with a passion. and so does the rest of my band. so on tour going throug texas we paid douchebag darrell a visit, we spit on his grave, stole a pair of cowboy boots, and i wrote “FAG” on his grave… i’m not a homophobe but i hope all panturrrra fans see this and shit themselves with anger….FUCK DIMEBAG, buncha racist hillbillies #pantera sucks #dimebag darrell sucks”
Jeez, apparently the guy doesn’t even know how to hashtag correctly; all of the words have to be CONNECTED to work, asshole. For an added touch of offensiveness, the word “fag” was written on a piece of paper in the shape of a razor blade (Dimebag’s signature symbol), though it’s not clear whether or not this was already placed on grave by a fan. Needless to say, this has generated a LOT of angry responses on the Facebook pages of both the band and their label, Eternal Warfrost Productions. Pantera’s Facebook page posted a reaction from the band’s camp in response to this news as well, with the following sentiments:
“We are absolutely disgusted by this! We ask that all of you please show Dime & his grave the respect he deserves. This conduct will not be tolerated and the authorities have been notified.”
Just within the past two hours of first learning of this news, we at Metal Insider noticed a post on the Facebook page of Nuclear Hellfrost. Attempting to explain their side of the story involving this incident, it appears that the suspect in question is no longer a member of the band:
“The posts about us and to us are a complete surprise to us. Anything having to do with grave desecration was entirely a hoax put on by our former lead singer completely disconnected from the other members of the band. If you see Dimebag’s grave you can see there is nothing carved into his grave, the only thing that exists is a photo of a piece of paper posted by the former member. We are strongly against any sort of homophobia, racism, or outright disrespect for a human being…. We have nothing but the utmost respect for Dimebag and this is a misguided political publicity stunt that we were dragged into by a former member with an awful sense of humor. Nuclear Hellfrost as a band would like to apologize on this former member’s behalf to not only Dimebag’s fans, but most importantly his family. Again, the members of Nuclear Hellfrost had absolutely ZERO actual involvement in any of the alleged actions described by our former singer. Again, nothing but respect to Dimebag as a human being and condolences to his family. These are fabricated and contrived allegations on the internet that never happened in real life.”
It is unknown at the present time how long this alleged “former” lead singer has been out of Nuclear Hellfrost. Whether or not he had not been associated with the band prior to this incident, or rather he had been recently kicked out after his actions and subsequent social media posts, remains unclear. Before the aforementioned post above, the last post from the band’s Facebook page was on December 30, 2014. Additionally, no tour upcoming tour dates are listed. Only a profile photo showing dates of a tour with the band Swamp Squat (also from Fort Wayne, IN) from December 26, 2014 to January 11, 2015. The “About” section of their page lists the following information regarding the band’s members:
Whether or not Nuclear Hellfrost’s defense statements are true are irrelevant. Though if they turn out to be, then any hate directed toward the band would need to abruptly cease. The fact remains, some dumb jerk thought it was cool or funny to disrespect one of the most beloved and highly regarded fallen figures in heavy metal in just about the most tasteless, classless form imaginable. There are plenty of metalheads who don’t hold Pantera or Dimebag Darrel in such high praise as the vast majority of vocal fans that do. And every band – especially the bigger or more successful ones – can attract their own share of annoying fans. But is that any reason to lower oneself to such a standard toward a man whose musical legacy perhaps only outmatched by his well-known and documented kindness towards others? I think the answer is obvious.
One thing is for damn sure though: I sure as hell wouldn’t want to be this supposed former vocalist of Nuclear Hellfrost right now, because he has to be looking over his shoulder right now. Seriously, what did he actually think would be the end result to doing this, let alone bragging about it on social media? I mean… Wow. Just, wow.
