Gary Holt, the guitarist from the thrash metal band Slayer, recently announced that he will be taking a leave of absence from the European leg of the band’s farewell tour due to the well-being of his father.

According to Consequence of Sound, Holt went onto his Instagram to share the news of his father’s short time to live and share his replacement for the remainder of the tour. Phil Demmel, recently former guitarist for Machine Head, will be filling in for Holt for the last four stops of the European leg of the tour, starting with the show in Copenhagen Denmark.

In the Instagram post, there’s a photo of Holy posing with Demmel and fellow Slayer band member Kerry King. Holt began his post by stating, “first things first. I want to thank you to Berlin for the amazing show – best crowd ever.” He continues with, “but what I’ve got to say has been very hard for me these last 10 days or so. My father is very near the end of his journey. I’ve been playing these last several shows with the heaviest of hearts – and with the heavy heart, I have to announce I am leaving Slayer’s European tour.”

He followed up the message by saying, “I must return home to help care for my dad in his final moments. Tonight ended with me in tears while finishing Angel of Death. But the crowd brought out the best in me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I love you all.”

The guitarists then go on to thank Demmel for taking his spot during these tough times, his band members from both bands, Slayer and Exodus, alongside his entire crew and his wife.

 

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A post shared by Gary Holt (@garyholt_official) on Dec 2, 2018 at 2:31pm PST

Earlier in the year, the band announced their contributions to music was approaching it’s final days. After celebrating thirty-seven years, releasing twelve studio albums and performing a mass amount of shows across the globe, the band wanted to give their fans one last tour to commemorate their legacy.

Holt had become a touring member for Slayer back in 2011 when former member Jeff Hanneman was getting ill. He became a full-time member for the band after Hanneman’s death in 2013 and has stuck with them since.

In the upcoming year, the band is expected to play in March 2019 for the Download Festival in Australia and in June 2019 for the Hellfest Open Air festival in France. In light of these events, it’s uncertain if it will be too much for Holt to perform in the future.

Photo Credit: Mauricio Alvarado