SODOM founding frontman/bassist Tom Angelripper has released the following statement in regards to the passing of Chris Dudek (aka Witchhunter), the band's original drummer:

"Dear Fans and Friends,

In the beginning of (last) week I received the message that Chris Witchhunter had died. I was shocked - and you can believe me… I still am.

As we recorded The Final Sign Of Evil I noticed that Chris was in a very bad condition. It took more than 18 months to finish the recording for this record.

My God, I don't know what to say about this tragedy and I'm feeling really down.

After Chris had left the band we didn't meet very often. If you take a look at the“Lords Of Depravity DVD everybody realizes that Chris was really ill and confused. You can also understand why Chris and I didn't have much contact during the last few years.

His sickness was a slow process and everybody saw what happened - but Chris never took a helping hand from anybody else. All of Chris' friends will tell you so.

The worst thing was that Chris himself never realized the situation he was in and that it was important to accept help from others.

I can't write any "clear" words as I am in South America right now and we are flying from show to show. At first I thought that it might be better to cancel the tour but that wouldn't have been fair to our fans and Chris wouldn't have liked it either.

I hope that all of Chris' friends will help his lovely Mom and support her in these dark times.

In the beginning of our friendship she was like my own Mom to me. After my return from South America I will surely support her, too. I hope that we can arrange a big show for Chris with a couple of friends to give him a special farewell and to make some money for his mother!

Hey Chris, you created music history. R.I.P.!"