Mike Scaccia, the guitarist for Ministry and Rigor Mortis, died on Saturday, December 22 night at the age of 47. Scaccia was performing onstage at the Rail Club in Fort Worth, Texas, as part of a 50th birthday celebration for Rigor Mortis singer Bruce Corbitt, when he collapsed. Shortly afterwards, he was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The medical examiner listed the cause of death as a sudden heart attack brought on by heart disease, Rolling Stone reported citing Fort Worth Star Telegram.

Earlier accounts, including one from the rock blog Blabbermouth.net, attributed the collapse to a seizure and noted that Scaccia had reportedly asked for the strobe lights in the club to be turned off during the performance moments before he fell.

Scaccia was born in Babylon, New York, on July 14th, 1965, and formed thrash metallists Rigor Mortis in 1983. Six years later, the guitarist was invited by Al Jourgensen to join Ministry. The first full-length Ministry studio recording to feature Scaccia was the group's most commercially successful release, 1992's Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs, which spawned such industrial metal classics as "N.W.O." and "Jesus Built My Hotrod."