METALLICA and ANTHRAX have issued statements regarding the tragic death of legendary New York City mastering engineer George Marino who passed away yesterday (June 4th) after a year-long battle with lung cancer.

Metallica: "We were very sad today to hear that we have lost a member of our family as mastering engineer extraordinaire George Marino passed away following a year long battle with lung cancer. While some of you may not instantly recognize George’s name, he was an invaluable member of our extended Metalli-family and was absolutely crucial with his skills and guidance as he spent countless days and hours tweaking every nuance and sound on The Black Album, Load, Re-Load, Garage, Inc., and S&M.;

George was the unsung hero behind the scenes on hundreds of classic albums working in all genres of music including STEVIE WONDER’s Innervisions, AC/DC‘s Back In Black, GUNS N' ROSES Appetite for Destruction, BON JOVI’s Slippery When Wet, JOURNEY‘s Frontiers, and CYNDI LAUPER’s She's So Unusual, just to name a few... he has worked with OZZY OSBOURNE, THE ALLMAN BROTHERS, IRON MAIDEN, DEEP PURPLE, KISS, THE OFFSPRING, THE CARS, COLDPLAY and countless others. In his nearly 40 years at Sterling Sound, he won three Grammy awards, most recently in 2011 for ARCADE FIRE‘s The Suburbs, which won Album of the Year.

His talent, professionalism, attention to detail and above all true dedication to music, along with the mere fact that George was simply one of the nicest people we have ever met in anywhere in the music business, makes today a very sad one for everyone in the Metallica family and he will be missed by all.

Anthrax: "R.I.P. George Marino. Any decent collection of heavy metal and hard rock will be full of records he mastered. He mastered I'm the Man, Volume 8, Return Of The Killer A's, We've Come for You All, and Anthrology. It's also fun to say he mastered Master of Puppets."

Anthrax' Charlie Benante: "Where do I even begin when it comes to George Marino? I've sat with George on So many Anthrax records and watched and learned how a record is mastered. He made the long hours up at Sterling, interesting and fun. I would leave there thinking we just did something great. With George it was all for the music, He had a great set of ears! We lost a master craftsmen and a great man. I will miss him a lot!"