Terry Allen, the guitarist and vocalist of Florida thrash metal group Elysium, has died at the age of 46. Allen apparently passed away early last week, but the cause of death is not yet known.
The news comes via Elysium drummer Tim Jorgensen, who shared the following open letter with fans of the group:
It is with my deepest regret that I must pass on the news of the death of Terry W. Allen. He was found dead in his apartment on Monday, October 22nd, 2012. To most reading this he was a great guitarist, innovative song writer, talented singer and the backbone to Elysium and the Inspired Hatred cd. He also played in Paramoure in the late 1980’s, Phoenix Rising (a country band of all things) in the early 90’s, Parricide, Rage (this goes way back to high school in the early 80’s) and I am sure I am missing some as well. He was truly a rocker indeed. He brought the best out of me as a drummer and had a profound influence on me both musically and personally. I have truly been privileged to be part of Terry and his family since we started jammin’ together at 11 years old.
On the outside Terry was pretty quiet, but if you knew him well it didn’t take long to realize there was a very passionate, intelligent, witty and funny guy in there. I can’t tell you how many hours we have spent discussing politics, women, marriage, religion, business and music of course. I will miss having those conversations.
He is survived by his Mother and sister. He had no children and was not currently married. I have been out of the music scene for so long and have no idea how to contact any of our old friends from the south Florida days. If anybody out there feels the need to contact me please feel free to email me at timjorgensen545@yahoo.com.
Thank you for reading this and listening to our music as well. My heart and prayers go out to Terry’s family.
God Bless
Tim Jorgensen
The band’s history can be traced back to 1978, but it wasn’t until the late ’80s that they began to build a fanbase for their live show. It was then that they recorded their Inspired Hatred demo with Tom Morris (Iced Earth, Morbid Angel). The release, which is their only recorded material, was reissued on a deluxe CD via Divebomb Records in 2009.