Rob Caggiano has left Volbeat

Rob Caggiano, the long-tenured lead electric guitar player for Volbeat, has parted ways with the band.

The Danish hard-rockers announced the news today (June 5) in a social media post, praising Caggiano in their statement as a “brother.”

“After ten incredible years we must sadly announce that Volbeat and Rob Caggiano have parted ways,” the band wrote. “During our time together we’ve traveled the world sharing great experiences, and released four albums that we are immensely proud of, and we wouldn’t change a moment of it.

“We wish our brother Rob all the best with everything he does in the future (we know it’s going to be great)!”

“Thank you to all of our incredible fans for their support, and more importantly, thank you to Rob for ten amazing years.”

Elsewhere in the post, the band revealed that The Arcane Order guitarist Flemming C. Lund will, at least temporarily, be taking Caggiano's place onstage.

"Filling [Caggiano's] shoes on stage will be a herculean task, but our good friend Flemming C. Lund (The Arcane Order) will be jumping in to handle lead guitar on our 2023 shows," Volbeat wrote elsewhere in the announcement.

Prior to Volbeat, Caggiano served as the lead guitarist for thrash metal titans Anthrax and nu metallers Boiler Room. He has also chalked up an extensive production discography, manning the boards for a wide variety of metal bands, including his own.

“I’m always working on different records with different people,” Caggiano explained to Guitar World in a 2019 interview. Producing records by his own bands, though, was initially a challenge, the guitarist revealed.

“I’ve been producing records for bands that I’ve been in for a long time, and that took a bit to get used to,” Caggiano said. “Sometimes the hard part is being able to remain objective while you’re actually working with stuff hands-on. 

“It took a little while, but I’m very used to it. Wearing the two hats is something I do all the time at this point... To me it’s all one thing – it’s all making music.”