Former Textures vocalist Pieter Verpaalen has sadly passed away. Verpaalen fronted Textures between 2002 and 2004, and performed on the band's debut 2003 album Polars. We express our deepest condolences to Verpaalen's friends and family at this time.
"We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of our friend and former Textures band member Pieter Verpaalen," wrote Textures.
"Pieter was the vocalist on our debut album, Polars (2003), and he played an important role during the early formation stages of the band. Pieter provided the lyrics to our first-ever song, 'Swandive', and both this song and his contributions to our debut album laid the foundation for the band’s ongoing journey. We will forever be grateful to him for his impact, both musically and personally.
"Even after leaving Textures, Pieter remained a key figure in the Dutch metal scene, and his loss will be profoundly felt here as well. He leaves behind his loving wife, Rachèl, and their two children. Our thoughts are with them during this incredibly difficult time.
"Richard Rietdijk, Stef Broks and everybody in the current and old Textures team."
Who is Textures?
Textures is a Dutch progressive metal band founded in 2001. Textures released five albums between 2003 and 2016 before breaking up in December 2017. Textures has since reunited and is carrying on with the lineup of vocalist Daniël de Jongh, guitarists Bart Hennephof and Joe Tal, bassist Remko Tielemans, keyboardist Uri Dijk, and drummer Stef Broks.
If you've never heard Polars, go listen. Textures never quite got enough credit for being as fantastically good as they are.