According to a Facebook posting from Matte Modin (Dark Funeral, Infernal, Defleshed), Swedish guitarist David Parland (Necrophobic, Dark Funeral, Infernal) died on March 19 at the age of 42. No cause of death has yet been revealed.

A founding member of the Swedish melodic death metal band Necrophobic, Parland later went on to start Dark Funeral and make a melodic and essentialist version of black metal that later worked more occult heavy metal into the mix. After that, he joined Infernal and developed their unique style of intensely violent music.

A posting on the DeathMetal.org web site reads: "With the passing of Mr. Parland, death metal loses a talented musician and someone whose forward momentum launched more vital projects than most can dream of. It is hope that his legacy will not be forgotten."

In a November 2012 interview with Masterful Maga 'Zine, Parland stated about the break he took from the extreme metal scene between 2003 and 2008 and his decision to resurrect Infernal: "I wasn't actually tired of the scene, but rather tired of the struggling. Say, had I had easygoing killer musicians around me without any 'hang-ups,' I'd continue playing and thinking it was fun. Well, I can´t go too personal here, but there were quite a few personal problems during these years. I reactivated Infernal with a little more 'accessible' sound but still brutal and Satanic, in 2009/2010, with [drummer] Tomas Asklund (Gorgoroth, ex-Dissection), and we recorded the 'Infernal Return' Ep, and had way more material. Tomas decided just after a while, for reasons I yet do not understand, to not be part. He didn't want to play live/rehearse, mainly be just a studio drummer. Unfortunately, it was a pretty ugly split in between us."

Parland previously described Infernal's most recent music as "a mix between old Necrophobic (but with blast beats), Dissection, Slayer and Morbid Angel. This compared to the old 'Satanic holocaust metal' style of the first two CDs, which almost solely consisted of ultra-fast blast beats and extreme Satanic chantings through the whole songs."

Photo credit: Tallee Savage / www.savagebeauty.se