After months of tests and deliberation, Virginia medical examiners officially announced this week that the death of GWAR frontman Dave Brockie was caused by accidental heroin overdose. Brockie was initially found dead, slumped in a chair in his Richmond home, on March 23.

After Brockie’s roommate found him unresponsive in their home and called the police, responding investigators found evidence of heroin use. However, the cause of death was not finalized until toxicology tests were completed. Arkuie Williams, administrator at the chief medical examiner’s office, said on Tuesday that Brockie’s cause of death was in fact acute heroin toxicity. Friends of the metal veteran told Richmond’s CBS 6 that they had been worried about Brockie’s behavior and “suspected his known penchant for marijuana smoking and partying had taken a bad turn.”

Brockie was more commonly known as Oderus Urungus, the armor-covered intergalactic humanoid barbarian with devil horns in the shock metal band GWAR. Brockie founded the Grammy-nominated band, which became infamous for the grotesque costumes and bizarre stage antics of its members, in 1984. Though GWAR constantly changed its roster, Brockie remained a permanent member and frontman. The band released their 13th album last year, and toured Australia and Japan, fulfilling one of Brockie’s lifelong dreams.

Brockie’s death is known to have occurred shortly after his band, GWAR, had announced their fifth annual GWAR-B-Q, one of the country’s biggest yearly rock and metal festivals. The event is still slated to go on as scheduled on August 15, which is one day after Brockie’s public funeral. In his place, GWAR will be performing with Mike Bishop on vocals at the GWAR-B-Q event.

The singer’s death happened to come three years after 34-year-old GWAR lead guitarist, Cory Smoot, was found dead on the band’s tour bus. Smoot’s passing was due to a blood clot in his heart.