In the night of Tuesday March 4th 2014 Selim Lemouchi, up until its disbandment end of last year the guitarist and writer for The Devil's Blood, passed away. I saw a couple of news items pass by on Facebook, shared by some of my friends, and wondered what the fuss was about. Selim turns out to have been a local musician who's been in a ton of bands, all in the rock/metal/punk scene. I didn't know him personally, but I encountered him a couple of times - years ago already - in the company of mutual friends. I now wish I had taken the chance to get to know him better. He wasn't just a very talented musician, he was one of those people who, the instant you first see them and hear them talk, strikes you as... well just plain awesome. He was friendly, respectful and funny, and now, posthumously, the more I see and read about him, the more I feel he and I had a shitload of stuff in common.
And even though it's safe to say I actually didn't know him at all, his death has struck me deeply. More so because - although nothing has been confirmed as of yet - the chances that he died by his own hand are pretty high. The feelings it evokes defy description. For such a beautiful person to see no other way to continue than this...
I can only hope he got what he wanted.
Since I respect you people as a community very much, and since I know there's a fair share of metalheads among you who might have heard this news as well, I wanted to share the impact of this story with you. Instead of sitting around moping I channeled the energy his death awakened in me into a song, serving both to pay my respects to a kindred spirit and to deal with the grief I was stricken by ever since I realized the full extent of the news I dismissed so casually at first glance.
This is Unturned. I hope at some time it can offer you the same solace I expect to find in it.
Thank you for reading.
[EDIT]: Now
also available on YouTube, courtesy of
Jérôme Siegelaer.