Last Monday, Pro-Pain frontman Gary Meskil was the apparent victim of a robbery and attempted murder while on tour in Brussels, Belgium.

According to a statement on the band's Facebook page (below), Meskil was attacked by a gang late at night near his hotel, hit on the head with an ice pick and robbed of his passport, credit card and cash. He was taken to a hospital where he was diagnosed with head trauma, multiple fractures to his face and jaw as well as massive blood loss. Police have stablished identities of some of the subjects and Meskil remains in the hospital resting.

The band has already canceled two scheduled shows in Roselare, Belgium, and Osnabrück, Germany, but aside from those two the group hasn't said anything about future events.

Pro-Pain have been going strong since the early 1990s, steadily releasing 15 albums and a smattering of compilations and other releases. Meskil is also known for his time in the Long Island crossover thrash band Crumbsuckers, remaining the band's bassist since the beginning.

In our interview with Meskil a few years back, he spoke about the band's timeline, how it's shifted members throughout the years. "In a perfect world, we would have endured the past 22 years with the same lineup," Meskil says. "In the real world, Pro-Pain have struggled to keep things afloat for most of those 22 years and sometimes real life situations take over and shake things up a bit in terms of our lineup. The best that the remaining members can do is to try and move forward with a lineup that represents the band 100% onstage and off. I think we’ve done a fine job of that, all things considered."

Our best wishes go out to Meskil and the rest of Pro-Pain.

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