The metal world received the sad news yesterday (March 8th) that legendary Entombed/Entombed A.D. singer Lars-Göran “L-G” Petrov has passed away at the age of 49 after suffering from incurable bile duct cancer. Many of his peers have posted tributes to the L-G, several of which will make their way to BraveWords over the coming days. Following are some heartfelt words from Opeth frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt.

Åkerfeldt: "This morning I got the news that L-G Petrov had passed away. Now, I only seem to post something when someone I or we collectively admire has passed away, and for this I’m sorry. Usually I feel the need to write something when a musician that’s been part of my music-life has passed away. This time it's different however. 

L-G was 'our guy.' A Stockholm original. I should rephrase and say he 'is' our guy, really. That will never change, even if he’s physically not here anymore. He epitomized the term 'down to earth.' No frills. He was just a downright lovely person. Brimming with positivity. A friend. Someone we knew, and he knew us. Every time I ran into him we always talked and laughed about something. He’d bum a cigarette (back when I was a smoker) and we’d have a beer, chatting away. Hearing about his illness came as a shock, but somewhere in your mind it’s not 'real' until it becomes real. It’s impossible to prepare for something like this anyways, so why bother? 

Musically, he was a giant in the world of singers. I like to think I’ve told him too, but L-G being L-G, he would have laughed it off. My favorite performance of his was when Entombed played at the Royal Opera here in Stockholm. It was amazing! L-G at the piano! They put a lot of attending musicians to shame that evening, and I was one of them. We will have to let this sink in. It’s not as easy as having a 'Entombed-evening' on the stereo and expect to feel better. Soon enough though, I hope. 

We wish to extend our sincere condolences and respect to his family and friends, as well as to all members of Morbid, Nihilist and Entombed, past or present. Many of which are friends of ours. 

Damn it! It’s even difficult to stop writing as that kind of seals everything. But there you go. Lars Göran Petrov, rest in peace."

 

BraveWords is devasted and offers up our deepest condolences to L-G’s family, friends and fans. L-G can be heard growling on these game-changing Entombed albums: Left Hand Path (1990), Wolverine Blues (1993) and DCLXVI: To Ride Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth (1997).