Josh Martin, best known as the former guitarist for notorious Massachusetts grindcore outfit Anal Cunt, has died, Vanyaland reports. He was 45. Martin fell to his death after losing his balance while sliding down an escalator railing last night (May 28th) at the Providence Place Mall in Providence, Rhode Island; the musician was later pronounced dead at the hospital due to his injuries. No foul play is suspected at this time, according to WPRI Eyewitness News.
Born in 1973, Martin grew up in Connecticut before enrolling at New York University in the mid Nineties. Through his participation in the local scene, he became good friends with Anal Cunt founder Seth Putnam, and in 1996, was officially inaugurated as the band's guitarist. The outrageously politically incorrect — and Phil Anselmo–endorsed — grindcore outfit marked just one of several outlets for his and Putnam's fruitful relationship; throughout the late Nineties and early to mid- Aughts, the bandmates formed and recorded with a black-metal project, Impaled Northern Moonforest, as well as the sludge-metal band Adolf Satan. Despite several stints in jail, Martin continued to record and perform with Anal Cunt until Putnam's death in 2011, which forced the group to disband.
