It took the new issue of Decibel Magazine to inform me of an unfortunate passing.

There are times when even a poorly-aged album does it for me. That’s a testament to an initial strength, sure, and proof that all genres have at least a handful of winners. At nineteen, I had but one friend that listened to Gruntruck, a band that had a timely (for the radio/grunge/trad indie feeding frenzy) sound that also happened to pack a punch - a punch powerful enough to transcend the terrible building blocks of their contemporaries. Push is a solid album…as long as you know what you’re getting into. It also has what might be the absolute worst cover art of any early-90’s alternative release (out of respect, I am not posting an image).

Gruntruck founder Ben McMillan died recently of diabetic complications. No matter what you think of Gruntruck, or his other band, Skinyard, the guy could write a hook and was certainly onto something re: metal crossing over into “hipper” genres (one of his runnin’ dogs in Gruntruck was Tom Niemeyer of The Accused).

Gruntruck’s Wikipedia entry.