Burgerkill founding guitarist Aries Tanto – aka Eben – dies aged 46

Eben – founding guitarist of Indonesian metal band Burgerkill – has died at the age of 46.

News of the musician's death – whose real name was Aries Tanto – was first broken by Bandung, Indonesia's Hellprint music festival, and later confirmed by Burgerkill on Instagram. Indonesian publication Hai Grid also reported Eben's death, saying he was “shooting, then suddenly fainted”.

“Mr. Aries Tanto aka Eben Burgerkill has left us all today, September 3, 2021, at 16:15,” the band wrote on Friday (translated from Indonesian). “[He] died peacefully in Bandung. We ask for prayers for [Eben] so that his faith and deeds are accepted by Allah, and that all those left behind are given fortitude.”

Burgerkill was founded in 1995 by Eben and his high school friend Kimung on bass. Following the release of their debut studio album Due Sisi in 2000, the group quickly gathered attention in the Indonesian music scene, and later among the global metal community, winning Metal Hammer’s ‘Metal As Fuck’ category at the Golden Gods awards in 2013.

To date, the band have released five studio albums: Due Sisi, Berkarat (2003), Beyond Coma and Despair (2006), Venomous (2011) and Adamantine (2018).

They also released Killchestra in 2020, a six-track collection of some of their most popular songs – including An Elegy and Tiga Titik Hitam – recorded with the Czech Symphony Orchestra.