Goblin guitarist and co-founder Massimo Morante has died. A post on the group’s official Facebook page confirmed his passing: “Goblin announce with a heavy heart and in total disbelief the passing of founder and guitar master Massimo Morante.”

Morante, who was born in 1952, started playing with the other members of the Italian progressive rock band in a group called Cherry Five. Their debut album under that name, which was released in 1975, attracted the attention of giallo master Dario Argento. Argento recruited the group to record a score for his film Deep Red at the last minute after being displeased with composer Giorgio Gaslini’s work on the movie. To coincide with this new calling, the band re-christened themselves Goblin.

Goblin established a legacy with their horror film scores.. They went on to compose the score for Argento’s Suspiria in 1977 and George A. Romero’s Dawn Of The Dead. in 1978. Morante left the group not long after to pursue a solo career — putting out 1980’s Abbasso and 1982’s Corpo A Corpo — but he linked back up with Goblin’s Claudio Simonetti and Fabio Pignatelli to score Argento’s 1982 film Tenebre.

Goblin fragmented even further after that, reuniting under the name for Argento’s 2001 film Sleepless but otherwise performing live under different incarnations with various members. Morante was part of the Goblin strain that released a couple of albums in the past decade, including 2015’s Four Of A Kind and 2018’s Fearless.