Allen Blickle, the original drummer for the Grammy-nominated sludge metal band Baroness, has died at the age of 42. "It breaks my heart to have to share the news that my dear friend, creative partner and former bandmate Allen Blickle passed away a few days ago," Baroness frontman John Baizley said in a statement. "I'm still in shock that he's gone. We ask for understanding as his family and this band process his passing and grieve his loss. Allen, I love you and miss you. I treasure every moment we shared." Laura Pleasants of Georgia metal band Kylesa, wrote in her Instagram tribute, "We all thought you had this thing beat. Gone too soon, my friend. I'm glad you are at peace and no longer in pain. Much love to you." Blickle co-founded Baroness in Savannah, Georgia, in 2003, alongside Baizley, bassist Summer Welch and guitarist Tim Loose. Following the band's tour bus crash in August 2012 - in which the vehicle plunged 30 feet (nine metres) off a viaduct near Bath, England, in heavy rain - Blickle was hospitalised for two weeks. He left the band the following year, along with bassist Matt Maggioni. "The accident was much more to me than just a near-death experience," Blickle told The Fader in 2013. "It made me rethink a lot in my life and has been the most difficult time I've been through thus far. It was a horrible memory, but I'm trying not to let it define me or stop me from doing what I love. Let it be and keep moving."