Ralph Santolla

Ralph Santolla (December 8, 1966 – June 6, 2018) was an American heavy metal and extreme metal guitarist. He played in many bands, most notably Deicide, but also including Eyewitness, Death (he never recorded any of their albums, but toured with them in 1993 and appeared in "The Philosopher" video), Millenium, Iced Earth, and the Sebastian Bach band. In 2007, he replaced Allen West in Obituary for their album Xecutioner's Return.

Career

Santolla was born on December 8, 1966 in Charlotte, North Carolina, but was raised in Tampa, Florida.

He formed a band named Eyewitness with drummer Oliver Hanson, and was joined by Keith Sterling, Shawn Phillips and vocalist Todd Plant. The band recorded several demos and signed with UK-based Now and Then Records. Eyewitness released a self-titled album in 1995, which had covers of songs by UFO and Zeno, and played at the Astoria 2 in London that same year. Their next album, Messiah Complex, was released in 1996. The album did not do as well, and the band replaced one of their members, Hodson, with Manfred Binder, in addition to taking on a new band name, Millenium. They released an album in 1999, called Angelfire. Plant was replaced by Jørn Lande and a second album was released in 2000, called Hourglass.

Santolla played with Death as a substitute for Andy LaRocque during the Full of Hate festival in Europe in 1993, as well as the beginnings of their US tour for the Individual Thought Patterns album. He remarked in a 2005 interview with Killing Spree Records that leaving the band was a "big mistake".

He joined Iced Earth and played on The Glorious Burden album in 2004, as well as the accompanying tour. He later played with Sebastian Bach, though he "was not happy with the way things were going." Santolla began working on his own band, Stare, in addition to another album by Millenium.