Reed Mullin , drummer and co-founder of Corrosion of Conformity , has died at the age of 53. The cause of death has not been revealed.
The band revealed the sad news last Monday, the 27th, with a message on social media. “It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to a friend, a brother, and a pioneer. Reed, you are deeply loved and always will be.”
Mullin founded Corrosion of Conformity in 1982 with bassist Mike Dean and guitarists Pepper Keenan and Woody Weatherman . COC released the studio album, Eye for and Eye , in 1984 with a sound more geared towards hardcore, which soon changed to sludge and stoner metal, genres for which they are considered pioneers.
The band has gone through several line-up changes during its ten-album career, including Mullin's departure in 2001. The drummer returned in 2006, but only managed to reunite the original lineup with Weatherman, Dean, and Keenan in 2014. No Cross No Crown , released in 2018, was the first to feature the quartet's return since America's Volume Dealer in 2000.
In 2016, Mullin was injured during a band concert in Edmonton, Canada, due to intoxication. He subsequently missed several performances and was eventually removed from the group. Dean publicly stated that Mullin would only be accepted back when he was healthy. "He needs to take care of himself, and when he's all set, the doors will be open," he told the Talk Toomey at the time.
In addition to COC, Mullin and Dean founded the hardcore-punk collective Teenage Time Killers in 2014, which featured collaborations with big names like Dave Grohl , Randy Blythe , Corey Taylor , and others. The group's only album was Greatest Hits Vol. 1, in 2015.
The death of Reed Mullin comes tragically in the same month that we lost Neil Peart , legendary drummer of Rush , and Sean Reinert , drummer of Cynic and Death . Rest in peace, Reed.