Beyond The Bridge, Facebook Musician and producer Simon Oberender, who played guitar and keyboards for the German progressive metal band Beyond the Bridge, has passed away. Beyond the Bridge released their debut album ‘The Old Man and the Spirit’ earlier this year, and played ProgPower USA in Atlanta less than two weeks ago, the band’s first U.S. show. Oberender was also the keyboardist for Amanda Somerville’s band Trillium. The cause of death has not been announced. In an interview with About.com Heavy Metal earlier this year, guitarist Peter Degenfeld explained how Oberender came to join Beyond the Bridge. “Christopher (Tarnow, one of the band’s founders) met Simon during his studies and they became good friends. After finishing University, Simon went to the Gate Studios in Wolfsburg where he is now a sound engineer and producer. He also recorded, mixed, mastered (together with Sascha Paeth) and produced ‘The Old Man And The Spirit.’ Simon also brought Fabian (drums) and Herbie (vocals) to the band.” Oberender appeared on several other albums, including Avantasia’s 2010 releases ‘The Wicked Symphony’ and ‘Angel of Babylon,’ Edguy’s ‘Age of the Joker’ (2011), Epica’s ‘Requiem for the Indifferent’ (2012), Rhapsody of Fire’s ‘The Frozen Tears of Angels’ (2010) and Kamelot’s ‘Silverthorn,’ which will be released next month. As an engineeer, Oberender worked on albums by Avantasia, Destination’s Calling, Edguy, Epica, Mayan and others. The band has posted a photo of Oberender on their Facebook page with the message, “We deeply mourn the passing away of Simon Oberender, our producer, band-mate, and above all, best friend there will ever be. There are no words that could describe our loss. Simon, we will always miss you!” Loudwire offers its deepest condolences to Simon Oberender’s family and bandmates. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/adam-yauch-death-2012/” title=”See the Rockers We’ve Lost in 2012″ align=”center”] ?