As I Lay Dying continue to lay, dying. Apt for this goriest of days, the controversial metalcore unit's rhythm guitarist, Phil Sgrosso, has now joined his three former bandmates — guitarist Ken Susi, drummer Nick Pierce and bassist Ryan Neff, as well as a tour manager — in calling it quits, leaving only frontman Tim Lambesis.
Neff, Pierce and Susi all announced their respective departures from the band earlier this month, citing "personal morals" and "health and integrity," resulting in the cancellation of a scheduled European tour. Sgrosso issued a statement of his own on Instagram today, where he claimed the band "no longer offers a healthy or safe environment for anyone involved."
"After witnessing some concerning patterns of behaviour, I've realized that I can no longer, in good conscience, enable further actions that could negatively affect anyone working within this space," the guitarist wrote. "For these reasons, I feel it's in my best interest to completely distance myself, both creatively and personally, from As I Lay Dying."
Sgrosso added that he also wanted to share his "full support for Ryan, Ken, and Nick, who made the choice to step away recently," certainly alluding to the nature of the working environment having unravelled at the hands of Lambesis (which doesn't exactly come as a surprise, given how the vocalist served time for hiring a hitman to kill his estranged wife).
Read Sgrosso's full statement below. Also the touring guitarist for Saosin and Nails, he joined As I Lay Dying at age 17 and spent 21 years with the band, amassing songwriting credits on albums like 2005's Shadows Are Security and production credits on later collections.