Former Volumes guitarist & producer, Diego Farias, dies age 27

Our love & thoughts go out to Diego's close friends & family.

Overnight, former Volumes guitarist and producer, Diego Farias, passed away, at only age 27, mere weeks after it was announced that he'd parted ways with the U.S. metalcore band.

Since the news broke when his brother, Gus Farias, posted about his passing on social media, who also left Volumes just before Diego would depart the band himself, there's been an outpouring of love from other members of the heavy community. Like Attila's Chris Fronz, Northlane's Josh Smith, Issues drummer Josh Manuel, and so many others extending their love to Deigo, his family, friends, former bandmates, and his memory. Fans have also been expressing their pain at the loss and their warm thanks for the music that Diego was apart of, and how much it meant to them, with Volumes posting this statement hours after Diego's passing.

At the turn of the 2000's ending and the 2010s leaping forward, Volumes were one of the bands on the forefront of a new wave of progressive-metalcore, apart of the then-budding djent movement alongside acts like Veil Of Maya, Periphery, Northlane, and Structures. So much of this is credited to the groovy guitar-playing, engineering, production, and songwriting that Diego pushed the American band forward with, what with songs like 'Edge of the Earth' and 'Wormholes.' He really was a big part of why those first few Volumes releases sounded the way that they did, and his impact in that heavy music scene cannot be understated.

A music producer and engineer in his own right, he worked multiple roles for all of Volumes' three albums and two EPs. He also has engineering credits for vocal production on Stray From The Path's 'Rising Sun' (2011) as well as Structures' 'Divided By' (2011), additional production work for Veil Of Maya's 'Matriarch' (2015), and some mixing and bass and drum engineering for Chelsea Grin's 'Ashes To Ashes' LP (2014). Not only that, but he also worked on new records by hip-hop/artist, Gnar (2019's 'Fire Hazard' LP), 88Rising's 2018 collective-compilation record, 'Head in the Clouds,' and even done programming and mixing for the late Mexican pop-icon, Juan Grabriel's 2015 two-part album. As a result, Diego was then also a two-time Grammy-winner for Juan Grabriel's records, too. He did so much in his time as a musician and as a creator; time that has sadly now been cut far too short.

One of my favourite Volumes songs is 'Vahle,' a beautifully heavy song written about a friend of the band, James Vahle, who was tragically killed in a car crash; a track that was subsequently released in memoriam to their dear departed friend. While there is no news just yet about how Diego passed away, that doesn't really matter: the heartfelt feelings of loss, questioning, regret, love and passion that 'Vahle' exude and summon up feel so sitting right now. Vale, Diego. I'll be bumping 'Via' and 'No Sleep' today in your honour.