Lauren Rettig December 23rd, 2024 - 4:56 PM
Revolver Magazine reports that frontman of the controversial punk band Amen, Casey Chaos, has passed away. The news came out on December 21 via an announcement from Cleopatra Records founder and CEO Brian Perera and was later confirmed by close friends and collaborators, including musician Skum Love and photographer Dean Karr. Casey Chaos was 59 years old.
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Former Amen/current Snot bassist John Fahnestock wrote in an emotional statement: “With a heavy heart and a tear in my eye I must announce that we lost another legend today. I’ve lost two legendary frontmen in my career and now Casey has passed on. It was an absolute honor to have been in Amen and witnessed, without a doubt, the genius that was Casey Chaos. He was a force unlike any other before him, a true artist, an uncompromising soul and a true punk rock icon. This is hard for me. I sit here going over all the memories. Just speechless.”
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Born Karim Chmielinski in 1970 in New York, Casey Chaos was a force of nature in both his personal and professional lives. Beyond Amen, he worked with a slew of heavy-hitting names in the punk rock genre including System of a Down’s Daron Malakian and Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme, as well as bands such as black-metal supergroup Scum (featuring members of Emperor) and goth-rock pioneers Christian Death.
Chaos was also an accomplished skateboarder and was first introduced to punk through fellow skater Duane Peters, who played music from Black Flag for him.
Amen was formed in Los Angeles in 1994, and while the band never quite broke through in the U.S., they made waves in the U.K. Their 2000 album We Have Come For Your Parents – produced by nu-metal godfather Ross Robinson and released through Roadrunner Records imprint I Am – marked their creative apex, a ferocious collection of politically charged anthems.
Amen followed up with Death Before Musick in 2004, which was released on Malakian’s EatUrMusic Records label. Not long after the album was released, the band went on hiatus.
The group made a brief return when former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo joined the band in 2014, but no new music emerged from that reunion. Death Before Musick remains Amen’s official final release.
