Architects guitarist Tom Searle has died after a three-year battle with cancer. He was 28.
The British metal-core band, which released latest album All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us through Epitaph in May, revealed the news to fans with a note on Facebook this morning. "He was an incredible songwriter and guitarist," writes Searle's twin brother, Architects drummer Dan Searle. "He was my closest and oldest friend. He was a funny, intelligent and sweet man and he leaves an enormous void in all of our lives."
Dan Searle notes that his brother had been living with cancer for the past three years, and recently, his condition worsened. In June, the band cancelled its North American tour, which included an August 4 stop at the Worcester Palladium. "In the last two weeks it suddenly took a turn for the worse and finally he left us," Dan Searle writes. "He spent the last two months fighting with everything he had to overcome the disease and things appeared to be moving in the right direction."
A crowd-funding effort for Martlets Hospice, the caregiver that tended to Tom Searle, has raised nearly $9,000.
Read Dan Searle's full note via Facebook:
Listen to some of Architects' songs below.