Tom Searle, the guitarist of metalcore group Architects, has died at the age of 28.
The musician had been battling cancer for the past three years, and news of his death was announced by his brother Dan on the group’s Facebook page on Sunday (21 August).
“It is with unbelievable pain and sadness that I have to announce that at around twelve minutes past midnight on August 20th my amazing brother, Tom, passed away after over three years living with cancer,” he wrote.
“He was an incredible songwriter and guitarist. He was my closest and oldest friend. He was a funny, intelligent and sweet man and he leaves an enormous void in all of our lives.”
Before his death, Tom had signed himself out of hospital to join the band on their European tour, despite being seriously ill.
However, while in Luxembourg on 8 June, he was taken into intensive care and put into a medically induced coma, which doctors warned his friends and family they did not expect him to wake up from.
Despite overcoming the odds by waking from his coma, and making his way home, his health deteriorated over the last two weeks.
Dan also admitted that the band are currently unsure about their future, following Tom’s death.
“We want to carry on, that is important to say, and we will strive to do so, but we will not release any music unless we truly believe that it is something that Tom would have been proud of,” he explained.
“Whether or not we can achieve that is something that we will have to discover in time.”
Architects were formed in 2004 and released their seventh album, ‘All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us’, in May.
You can donate to The Martlets Hospice in Hove in Tom’s memory here.
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