German Heavy Metal Fan Dies After Taking Part In Wall Of Death

Band Photo: Lamb of God (?)
A 26-year-old German heavy metal fan died over the weekend from injuries sustained at the Pressure Festival in in Herne (near Dortmund/Bochum), Germany.
The accident occured Saturday when 26-year-old — whose named hasn't been released by the German media — took part in the "wall of death," a form of concert dancing where the crowd is split down the middle and on the signal, both sides ram into each other.
The impact on the fan's liver was reportedly so significant that he died the same night at a nearby hospital.
The German media, especially regional TV, are already talking about "casualties at a heavy metal concert", and calling the wall of death an "aggressive" form of dance.
The "wall of death" was famously popularized by Lamb of God during their Ozzfest 2004 stint where it became a regular part of the group's live performance. [Click here to download a Quicktime video file recorded during last year's Ozzfest.]
In an interview with On Track Magazine conducted a few months ago, Lamb of God drummer Chris Adler was asked if the band ever feel concerned with the safety of their fans or if it is an "every fan for himself" kind of attitude.
"No, absolutely not, we definitely are concerned," Adler replied. "Y'know, we were doin' that Wall of Death for awhile, we were doin' it through the Ozzfest and we played a show on an off-date of Ozzfest where we headlined and we did the Wall of Death. And that night after the show we came backstage and there were two kids layin' there with broken legs. We went and talked to 'em and did our best to comfort 'em while they were waitin' for the ambulance and they were excited to meet us or whatever, but seein' somebody hurt after that kinda thing definitely made us stop and think about it a minute: and since that night we haven't done the Wall of Death again. It's not about people getting hurt, it's about people havin' fun and you're right, the audience is absolutely insane and we're not gonna throw out shoulder pads so nobody gets hurt. It is, in one way, every man for himself, but you gotta do your best to keep your eye out for each other when you're out there doing those things 'cause it can get pretty wild. And I think the energy and the release that we have as a band on stage and that the fans are able to have coming to see our live show, is really probably the most contagious thing about this band. I don't think we're writing records with big singles on 'em or metal anthems that people will never forget, I think it's about the show. And I think that's what's caught on and it's bringing more people out each time because of the stories, because of the fun that people are having; because the total insanity and the whole vibe. I get goose bumps when we take the stage sometimes and you can just see the eyes of these people lookin' at you, and they're all crazy. It's like somebody just released an entire prison yard to come to our show; it gets totally nuts. And I think as long as nobody gets hurt and everybody has a good time and they're able to let out a lot of the aggression and love doin' what they’re doin', then it’s more power to 'em and we're havin' a blast with it."
Source: Blabbermouth
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40 Comments on "Metal Fan Dies After Taking Part In Wall Of Death"
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the fact that cannot be alluded, is that the ass**** was there slamming himself, willingly, into other willing ass*****. it sucks that he died but nobody forced him into it. hopefully this could be a lesson to all of the other p***ies out there, if you want to hurt someone... beat a homeless person with a hammer.
and the only "metal way to die" is to have a piece of steel inserted into your body, not dying because your abdominal cavity is too weak to take a direct blow.

post 12 i agree its not called the "wall of death" for nothing. its a shame this guy died but violence is a part of metal if your not violent then your not metal. obviously god did not want him to live if he is the only one that died. i have the chimaira dvd and they do a "wall of death" in holland so its moving on through different bands now. in my poinion the "wall of death" should live on and anyone else that dies in them well f**king bad luck to you

That sucks the dude died but it comes with the territory. You can get killed doing anything so people should'nt go freaking out blaming a metal show! Just to correct some people LOG did'nt come up with the idea of the wall of death . It was being done at Murphys Law shows back in the late 80's they even have a song titled such on a cd. Bands were probaly doing it before them.
Condolences to the guy's family first and foremost.
Having just returned from a festival in France last weekend where there was a wall of death that I took part in this news is especially shocking. I have a feeling this incident may well have occurred during Sick Of It All's set at the Pressure Fest (they encourage a large Wall of Death they dub the Brave heart from the movie, it was huge at Furyfest so I assume it would have been the same at Pressure Fest) and its a shame that such an incident is being linked back to Lamb of God. It certainly wasn't their invention and it wasn't them that re-popularised it, so they don't deserve then negative press that will come with this.

Good news, everybody. Found on Uraniummusic.com
"The 26-year-old heavy metal fan who passed away during this past weekend's Pressure Festival in Germany died from complications brought about by a pre-existing heart condition and not as a result of injuries sustained while taking part in an aggressive form of slam-dancing, police in Bochum, Germany announced on Tuesday (June 2. The cause of Marco Grewen's death was found to be unrelated to the extreme type of "moshing" called "wall of death," a form of concert dancing where the crowd is split down the middle and on the signal, both sides ram into each other.
The German media had previously reported that approximately 2,000 people took part in the "wall of death" during HATEBREED's performance at the festival. A total of 25 people were reportedly taken to local hospitals to be treated for various injuries — including fractures — sustained during the three-day event."

to post 19. u talk so much sh** boy! . "" IF your not violent your not metal "".. what sh** u talking? u listen 2 chimaira man lol!! get real bastard! u wanna listen 2 real violent music? go listen 2 old skool thrash metal f***er! metal_skater llol u aint f***ing metal! u aint true anyways

Thanks RollMonkey for that.
That being stated, would it be of too muchg speculation to say the the kid died because his heart was working too fast from the moshing?
It was a three-day show, how many Walls would there be if Hatebreed and Sick Of It All were there?
i saw hatebreed like 4 times lat year and they did it during 3 out 4 shows ... i'm glad that the incident has been attributed to a prior condition and not as a direct result of "the wall" ... i really enjoy the wall ... i hope to do it again ... (I'm gonna see LoG again here in about 20 days, so hopefully there !) ...

It is great that the Wall wasn't the reason for the death. However, knowing the media, I still bet the news will ride this story out and make it much more trouble than it actually is. Hopefully it'll die down before anything harsh consequences start coming into effect.

chris adler is a goodman caring for his fans and that is a shame about what happened to that german
dude i took part in the wall of death twice at the subliminal versus tour and at a lamb of god show last year with fear factory children of bodom,andthrowdown that was a badass show here in san antonio tx
and i know how brutal the wall of deth can get and i loved evry bit of it but i dont know what to say sh**
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That's terrible about the death of the German fan. I'm sure nobody wanted to kill the dude...accidents and sh** happen. If the fans could have stopped him from dying they probably would have...And that Chris Adler's a good man.