Allen West (born October 17, 1967,

Brandon, Florida Brandon is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 114,626 at the 2020 ...

, United States) is an American death metal guitarist, who has been a member of

Massacre A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

, Obituary, Six Feet Under, Lowbrow, and Southwicked. He is considered to be a pioneering figure of the death metal genre in the 1980s.

Musical career

West formed the band

in 1983, while he was still in high school. West's second band was Xecutioner, which laid down the foundation of Obituary. West helped co-found Six Feet Under with vocalist Chris Barnes of Cannibal Corpse in 1993. Initially a side project of Barnes, it became a full-time band in early 1995 after his departure from Cannibal Corpse. West remained with the band until late 1997, recording two albums and an EP in his tenure. In 1998 West formed Lowbrow band. It was announced in January 2009 that Lowbrow has decided to disband at the conclusion of their European tour. He has been in the band Southwicked ever since.

Personal life

West has one son and resides in Florida. On May 16, 2007 he was arrested and imprisoned after his fifth

DUI Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...

offense, incarcerated at the Gainesville Correctional Institution and released on January 19, 2008. In late March 2013, West was arrested for producing methamphetamine in his own home. He was sentenced to one year, 3 months, and 15 days in prison on July 16, 2013, but was released April 20th 2014 having served less than nine months of his sentence. On February 27, 2015, West was arrested in Sumter County Florida for petty theft. The case went to trial in May 2016, and as it was his third conviction he was sentenced to three years, ultimately being released October 7, 2018, having served two years and four months. One year after being released, he was arrested yet again, in Citrus County Florida on December 18, 2019, for felony petit theft and misdemeanor resisting a merchant.

Discography

;Obituary * ''

Slowly We Rot ''Slowly We Rot'' is the debut album by American death metal band Obituary. It was released on June 14, 1989 and is the only Obituary album to feature bassist Daniel Tucker. Lead guitarist Allen West would leave soon after but returned for the ...

'' (1989) * '' The End Complete'' (1992) * '' World Demise'' (1994) * '' Back from the Dead'' (1997) * '' Frozen in Time'' (2005) * ''

Frozen Alive ''Frozen Alive'' is Obituary's first live DVD. It was recorded August 24, 2006 in Warsaw, Poland. It has songs from each of their albums through '' Frozen in Time''. It also contains an interview conducted a day before the show. Contents *Co ...

'' (DVD) (2007) ;Six Feet Under * ''

Haunted Haunted or The Haunted may refer to: Books * ''Haunted'' (Armstrong novel), by Kelley Armstrong, 2005 * ''Haunted'' (Cabot novel), by Meg Cabot, 2004 * ''Haunted'' (Palahniuk novel), by Chuck Palahniuk, 2005 * ''Haunted'' (Angel novel), a 200 ...

'' (1995) * '' Alive and Dead'' (1996) * ''

Warpath Warpath may refer to: *Great Indian Warpath, a network of trails in eastern North America used by Native Americans Games * ''Warpath'' (video game), a 2006 FPS video game by Digital Extremes for the PC and Xbox *'' Warpath: Jurassic Park'', a 199 ...

'' (1997) ;Lowbrow * ''Victims at Play'' (2000) * ''Sex, Death, Violence'' (2003) ;Southwicked * ''Death's Crown'' (2011)

References

1967 births 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians American heavy metal guitarists American male guitarists Death metal musicians Guitarists from Florida Obituary (band) members Massacre (metal band) members People from Brandon, Florida Lead guitarists Living people Musicians from Tampa, Florida Six Feet Under (band) members {{US-metal-guitarist-stub