Witold "Vitek" Kiełtyka (24 January 1984 – 2 November 2007) was a Polish musician, best known as the drummer and percussionist for the

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

band

Decapitated Decapitation is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and all vertebrate animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood by way of severing through the jugular vein and common ...

. He had been with the band since its inception in 1996, when he was only twelve years old. Kiełtyka also worked with the

bands Dies Irae and Panzer X. He used Pearl drums,

Remo Remo Inc. is an American musical instruments manufacturing company based in Valencia, California, and founded by Remo Belli in 1957. Products manufactured include drum kits, drumheads, drums, and drum hardware, hardware, and various percussio ...

drumheads and Alchemy cymbals. He was the younger brother of guitarist Wacław "Vogg" Kiełtyka.

Death and tributes

On 29 October 2007, while travelling to a show in

Gomel Gomel (, ) or Homyel (, ) is a city in south-eastern Belarus. It serves as the administrative centre of Gomel Region and Gomel District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it is the List of cities and largest ...

, the bus carrying Decapitated and

Crionics Crionics was a Polish blackened death metal band from Kraków, formed in 1997 by Michał Skotniczny, Dariusz Styczeń, "Marcotic" and Maciej Zięba. In their early years they played fast and melodic metal strongly influenced by Norwegian black ...

collided with a truck carrying wood, causing serious head injuries to both Kiełtyka and

Adrian Kowanek Adrian Kowanek (born 4 October 1977), also known as Covan, is a Polish musician who was the former lead vocalist of the death metal bands Atrophia Red Sun and Decapitated. He was also the touring vocalist for technical death metal band Sceptic. ...

. The two were taken to a hospital in

Novozybkov Novozybkov (; ) is a historical town in Bryansk Oblast, Russia with a population, in 2021, of 38,680. The city is home to a branch of the Bryansk State University. History It was founded in 1701 and was granted town status in 1809. Novozybkov ...

. While Kiełtyka's family released a statement saying that his condition had improved, he underwent

trepanation Trepanning, also known as trepanation, trephination, trephining or making a burr hole (the verb ''trepan'' derives from Old French from Medieval Latin from Ancient Greek, Greek , literally "borer, auger"), is a surgical intervention in which a ...

and was due to be transported to a hospital in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

for further treatment. Kiełtyka died on 2 November 2007 at the age of 23. Norwegian

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with tr ...

band

Dimmu Borgir Dimmu Borgir () is a Norwegian symphonic black metal band from Jessheim, formed in 1993. The name is derived from Dimmuborgir, a volcanic formation in Iceland, the name of which means "dark cities" or "dark castles/fortresses" in Icelandic lang ...

played a tribute concert to him on 2 November 2007 at

Oulu Oulu ( , ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of North Ostrobothnia. It is located on the northwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Oulujoki, River Oulu. The population of Oulu is approximately , while the Oulu sub-regio ...

, Finland. Polish band Virgin Snatch composed the song "It's Time" dedicated to the drummer.Dimmu Borgir Dedicate Show To Decapitated Drummer
/ref>

Discography

* (1997) Decapitated – ''Cemeteral Gardens'' (demo) * (1998) Decapitated – ''The Eye of Horus'' (demo) * (2000) Decapitated – ''

Winds of Creation ''Winds of Creation'' is the debut studio album by Polish death metal band Decapitated. It was released through Earache Records subsidiary Wicked World on 17 April 2000. It was produced by Piotr Wiwczarek ( aka Peter), from Polish death metal ban ...

'' (Wicked World/

Earache Records Earache Records is a British independent record label, music publisher and management company founded by Digby Pearson in 1985, based in Nottingham, England, with offices in London and New York. The label helped to pioneer extreme metal by r ...

) * (2000) Decapitated – '' The First Damned'' (

Metal Mind Productions Metal Mind Productions (MMP) is a Polish record label founded in 1987. The label focuses on rock and heavy metal. MMP is also publisher of ''Metal Hammer'', the largest and the oldest heavy metal magazine. As a concert agency, it organises Meta ...

) * (2002) Decapitated – '' Nihility'' (

) * (2004) Decapitated – ''

The Negation ''The Negation'' is the third studio album by Polish death metal band Decapitated. It was released on 9 March 2004, through Earache Records. It is Decapitated's final album to feature vocalist Wojciech "Sauron" Wąsowicz. Critical reception Aft ...

'' (

) * (2006) Panzer X – ''Steel Fist'' (

) * (2006) Decapitated – ''

Organic Hallucinosis ''Organic Hallucinosis'' is the fourth studio album by Polish death metal band Decapitated. The album was released on 7 February 2006 in the United States, on 13 February in Europe and on 22 February in Japan. The release was followed by European ...

'' (

) ;Posthumous releases * (2008) Decapitated – '' Human's Dust'' (DVD) * (2009) Dies Irae – ''The Art of an Endless Creation'' (DVD)

References

at Allmusic

External links

Decapitated official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kieltyka, Witold 1984 births 2007 deaths Decapitated (band) members Polish heavy metal drummers Polish male drummers Polish death metal musicians Polish musicians Road incident deaths in Belarus People from Krosno 20th-century Polish male musicians