Sean Malone, the longtime bassist of the great progressive metal band Cynic, has died aged 50, Loudwire reports. Malone played on all three of Cynic's full-length albums, leaving a great mark in music. "Without any hyperbole; a true legend" - Steve Di Giorgio of Death wrote, adding - "Sean Malone is basically responsible for an entire genre of metal bass playing. Very influential and definitively ahead of the rest of us".

Reed Mullin founded Corrosion of Conformity in 1982 alongside bassist Mike Dean and guitarists Pepper Keenan and Woody Weatherman. C.O.C., as they were also known, started out with a more hardcore sound, and became pioneers of sludge and stoner metal, releasing a total of 10 studio LPs during the course of their career. The sad news came just days after drummer Sean Reinert had passed away. Reinert was s legendary and highly influential death metal/tech-death drummer of Cynic and Death. He died at age 48.