Six Feet Under replaces longtime drummer Marco Pitruzzella with Ruston Grosse

Six Feet Under has turned a major slot behind the kit into the story, replacing longtime drummer Marco Pitruzzella with Ruston Grosse just as the band moves from its latest record into a packed run of overseas and U.S. dates. The change was announced on Thursday, May 28, and it lands with immediate live stakes: the band said Grosse had already been working with the group for months and began preparing with them at the start of May.

That makes this more than a simple touring adjustment. Pitruzzella had been the drummer on Six Feet Under’s recent studio work, including Killing for Revenge and Next to Die, and his run stretched through the band’s 15th album, which Metal Blade says arrived on April 24, 2026. Next to Die was produced by Jack Owen and Chris Barnes, then mixed and mastered by Mark Lewis at MRL Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, giving Pitruzzella a clear fingerprint across a defining stretch of the group’s modern era.

Grosse enters with a different kind of résumé. He has prior credits with Master and Rumplestiltskin Grinder, and Metal Archives lists him as a U.S.-born drummer born August 15, 1985. The band framed him as a heavy rhythmic presence, calling him a “brutalizer” and a good person to have on board. Grosse, for his part, said he was excited to “pummel the masses” with the band and called it an honor to step in behind Chris Barnes, Jack Owen, Ray Suhy and Jeff Hughell.

For drummers listening closely, the most telling difference should be in how Six Feet Under balances speed against pocket. Pitruzzella’s presence helped sharpen the band’s recent attack with precision, velocity and aggression. Grosse, by contrast, appears likely to tilt the kit feel slightly deeper into groove, which could give the songs a broader thump without giving up the blast-beat pressure death metal demands. Onstage, that may mean a heavier backbeat feel in the transitions, a different kick-drum push under mid-tempo riffs, and fills that sit a little more in the pocket rather than snapping as tightly against it.

The timing matters because Six Feet Under is not easing into the swap. The band is heading into Europe in June with Embryonic Autopsy, then into North America starting July 8 in Detroit and ending August 11 in Chicago with Kataklysm and Wormhole, while also laying out South America dates for October and November. With dates also being worked on for 2026 and 2027, the first live runs with Grosse will show quickly whether Six Feet Under’s next chapter keeps Pitruzzella’s razor edge or leans harder into the groove the band says Grosse brings.