Steve DiGiorgio
Steve Di Giorgio (born November 7, 1967) is an American bass guitarist. He is known for his work with numerous heavy metal bands such as Sadus (of which he was a co-founder), Death, Testament, Megadeth, Sebastian Bach, Iced Earth, Autopsy, Obituary, Control Denied, Dragonlord and Charred Walls of the Damned, and he has performed on over 50 albums as a guest, session or full-time band musician.
Steve DiGiorgio

Stefan Brending (2eight) · Foto: Stefan Brending, Lizenz: Creative Commons by-sa-3.0 de · CC BY-SA 3.0 de
- Name
- Steve Di Giorgio
- Born
- 7 November 1967
- Birthplace
- Waukegan, Illinois, U.S.
- Occupation
- Musician
- Full name
- Steven Di Giorgio.
- Nationality
- United States.
- Fields
- music and bass guitar performance.
- Languages
- English.
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Steve Di Giorgio (born November 7, 1967) is an American bass guitarist. He is known for his work with numerous heavy metal bands such as Sadus (of which he was a co-founder), Death, Testament, Megadeth, Sebastian Bach, Iced Earth, Autopsy, Obituary, Control Denied, Dragonlord and Charred Walls of the Damned, and he has performed on over 50 albums as a guest, session or full-time band musician.
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Steve DiGiorgio (born 1967) is a bass guitarist, guitarist and musician, among other activities, of American nationality. The bass guitarist was born Steven Di Giorgio in Waukegan.
Steve DiGiorgio is a member of Death, Sadus and Testament. Activity centred on bass guitar performance and music.
The work spans death metal and thrash metal. Languages used include English.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Steve Di Giorgio • Born — 7 November 1967 • Birthplace — Waukegan, Illinois, U.S. • Instrument — Bass guitar • Genre — * Extreme metal • heavy metal • Occupation — Musician • Years Active — 1984–present • Current Member Of — * Testament • Charred Walls of the Damned • Futures End • Spirits of Fire • Act of Denial • Past Member Of — * Sadus • Death • Control Denied • Sebastian Bach • Dragonlord • Soen • Ephel Duath • Website — SteveDigiorgio.com
Career
Career
Di Giorgio has played bass guitar in heavy metal and death metal bands such as Death, Autopsy, Control Denied, Ephel Duath, Obscura, Artension, Faust, Memorain, Painmuseum, Suicide Shift, Soen, Vintersorg, Dragonlord, Iced Earth, Sebastian Bach, Obituary, Megadeth, and is a founding member of Sadus. He is a founding member of the jazz band Dark Hall and has played bass in other bands such as Testament, Futures End, Synesis Absorption, Mythodea, Charred Walls of the Damned, Anatomy of I, Gone in April, and Spirits of Fire. Along with his bass duties in Sadus, he also plays keyboards. In October 2019, he founded the fusion-world-metal group Quadvium with fellow fretless bass player Jeroen Paul Thesseling. A year later, he formed the death metal supergroup Act of Denial. In December 2025, he joined Obliveon as a session musician, taking over bass recording duties on their upcoming album.
Personal life
Personal life
Di Giorgio has been married for years, and is the father of a daughter who was born in April 1994. The family currently resides in Antioch, California.
Equipment
Equipment
Di Giorgio endorses Ibanez Guitars and primarily plays a number of different fretted and fretless BTB basses. He previously played two custom Mjolnir basses by Thor Bass; a custom made 5-string fretless model which he has converted to a 3-string and a custom-built 6 string fretless. He's also played custom ESP basses, mostly a F-series fretless 5-string bass in a dark green finish, but also uses a very unusual double-neck construction with a fretted and a fretless neck in one body. He currently uses an EBS Fafner head as his main sound, but has also used Ampeg and Randall in the past. • Di Giorgio's bass guitars: • 4001 Custom Rickenbacker (1981) • Fully Custom Homemade Fender-Like Fretless (1991) • 4001 Rickenbacker (1975) • Custom Carvin BB75F (1996) • Custom Carvin BB75 (1999) • ESP – LTD F-205 (1999) • ESP Custom Forest 5-string Fretless (1999) • ESP Doubleneck Bass • Thor Bass Mjolnir 5-string fretless (2008), since converted to be played with only 3 strings. • Thor Bass Mjolnir 6-string Fretless (2010) • Thor Bass Freyja 7-string Fretted (2013) • 4003W Rickenbacker modified with a fretless ebony fretboard by Larry Davis (2014) • Ibanez BTB1605E with a fretless neck (2016) • Ibanez SDGB1 Steve DiGiorgio Signature Bass (2023)
Musical style and influences
Within his genre, Di Giorgio is respected for his highly technical playing skills. He is also credited with being the first bassist to bring fretless bass playing into the heavy/extreme metal genre, and normally plays bass by using his fingers, although he has been seen using a pick on certain songs. Di Giorgio's influences include Geddy Lee, Chris Squire, Geezer Butler, Steve Harris, Stanley Clarke, Jaco Pastorius, Billy Sheehan, Dave Pegg and Charles Meeks. Di Giorgio explained the development of his playing style in 2017: "Working against what people consider comfortably normal, and swimming against the musical current from a young age has helped me stay out of the shadows as a bassist and as so many always still strive to keep it there. Fuck them."
Discography
• Sadus – Illusions (1988) • Autopsy – Severed Survival (1989, session) • Sadus – Swallowed in Black (1990) • Autopsy – Fiend for Blood (1991, session) • Death – Human (1991) • Sadus – A Vision of Misery (1992) • Death – Individual Thought Patterns (1993) • Sadus – Elements of Anger (1997) • Testament – The Gathering (1999) • Control Denied – The Fragile Art of Existence (1999) • James Murphy – Feeding the Machine (1999) • Testament – First Strike Still Deadly (2001) • Dragonlord – Rapture (2001) • Iced Earth – Horror Show (2001) • Vintersorg – Visions from the Spiral Generator (2002) • Artension – Future World (2004) • Lunaris – Cyclic (2004, guest) • Quo Vadis – Defiant Imagination (2004, session) • Takayoshi Ohmura – Nowhere to Go (2004) • Vintersorg – The Focusing Blur (2004) • PainmuseuM – Metal for Life (2005) • Various artists – Roadrunner United (2005) • Rob van der Loo – Freak Neil inc. Characters (2005, guest) • Sadus – Out for Blood (2006) • Scariot – Momentum Shift (2007, session) • Sebastian Bach – Angel Down (2007) • Necro – Death Rap (2007) • Roger Staffelbach's Angel of Eden – The End of Never (2007, session) • Futures End – Memoirs of a Broken Man (2009) • Faust – From Glory To Infinity (2009) • Charred Walls of the Damned – Charred Walls of the Damned (2010) • Heathen – The Evolution of Chaos (2010, guest) • Christian Muenzner – Timewarp (2011, guest) • Charred Walls of the Damned – Cold Winds on Timeless Days (2011) • Johnny Newman – More than Ever (2011) • Anatomy of I – Substratum (2011) • Sylencer – A Lethal Dose of Truth (2012, guest) • Synesis Absorption – Forever Untouched (2012) • Ephel Duath – On Death And Cosmos (2012) • Soen – Cognitive (2012) • Memorain – Evolution (2012) • Mythodea – Mythodea (2013) • Artlantica – Across the Seven Seas (2013, session) • Jeff Hughell – Chaos Labyrinth (2013, guest on track 3) • Gone in April – Threads of Existence (2016) • Testament – Brotherhood of the Snake (2016) • Counter-World Experience – Pulsar (2016, guest on track 7) • Art X - The Redemption of Cain (2016) • Spirits of Fire – Spirits of Fire (2019) • Geoda – Here and Now (2019) • Testament – Titans of Creation (2020) • Act of Denial – Negative (2021) • Megadeth – The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead! (2022, session) • Quadvium – Tetradōm (2025) • Testament – Para Bellum (2025) • Nuclear Messiah - Black Flame (2026, guest on tracks 2 and 5)

Steve DiGiorgio, bass guitarist in Death (DTA), performing at the Motocultor Festival, in Saint-Nolff (France), the 15th of August 2015.
Vassil

Steve DiGiorgio, bass guitarist in Death (DTA), performing at the Motocultor Festival, in Saint-Nolff (France), the 15th of August 2015.
Vassil
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.stevedigiorgio.com. Steve Di Giorgio – Official website.
- 2.Bassmusicianmagazine.com. Interview with Bassist Steve Di Giorgio. October 1, 2011.
- 3.Eduardo Rivadavia. Autopsy | Biography. AllMusic.
- 4.tacia Proefrock. Control Denied | Biography. AllMusic.
- 5.Blabbermouth.net. Marco Minemann, Steve Digiorgio, Karyn Crisis To Appear On New Ephel Duath Ep. December 7, 2011.
- 6.Roadrunnerrecords.com. Obscura To Be Joined By Bassist Steve Digiorgio For Japanese Dates. May 18, 2010.
- 7.Blabbermouth.net. Former Opeth Drummer Joins Forces With Sadus Bassist. May 28, 2010.
- 8.Rockdetector.com. MusicMight: Artists: VINTERSORG.
- 9.AllMusic. Dragonlord | Biography.
- 10.Rockdetector.com. MusicMight: Artists: ICED EARTH.
- 11.Blabbermouth.net. Steve Digiorgio Confirms Sebastian Bach Gig, Says Sadus Will Record New Album Soon. November 7, 2004.
- 12.Blabbermouth.net. Steve Digiorgio To Tour With Obituary In Europe. June 10, 2010.
- 13.Blabbermouth.net. DAVE MUSTAINE Confirms STEVE DIGIORGIO Played Bass On New MEGADETH Album. March 31, 2022.
- 14.AllMusic. Sadus | Biography.
- 15.Eduardo Rivadavia. Testament | Biography. AllMusic.
- 16.Ultimate-guitar.com. Testament Part Ways With Bassist Greg Christian, Announce Return of Steve DiGiorgio | Music News.
- 17.Lehtinen, Arto. News, Interviews, Concert Reviews » Steve DiGiorgio – Testament; Death To All; Sadus etc. Metal-rules.com. February 27, 2014.
- 18.David Jeffries. Charred Walls of the Damned | Biography. AllMusic.
- 19.Bravewords.com. ANATOMY OF I's Steve DiGiorgio Checks In From The Studio; New Album Title Revealed.
- 20.Blabbermouth.net. TIM 'RIPPER' OWENS, CHRIS CAFFERY, STEVE DIGIORGIO And MARK ZONDER Join Forces In SPIRITS OF FIRE. July 26, 2017.
- 21.Rivadavia, Eduardo. Quadvium. Allmusic.
- 22.Blabbermouth.net Staff. Testament and former Obscura bassists team up in Quadvium. Blabbermouth.net. November 2, 2019.
- 23.D'Auria, Jon. Jeroen Paul Thesseling and Steve Di Giorgio's band Quadvium completes line-up. Bassmagazine.com. December 3, 2019.
- 24.Staff, Bravewords.com. Quadvium completes lineup with guitar virtuoso Raphael De Stefano. Bravewords.com. December 9, 2019.
- 25.Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles. ACT OF DENIAL Featuring Members Of SOILWORK, TESTAMENT, KOZIAK, SEPTICFLESH And THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA Gearing Up To Release New Single And Full Band Video. October 3, 2020.
- 26.Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles. ACT OF DENIAL Featuring Members Of SOILWORK, TESTAMENT, KOZIAK And SEPTICFLESH Release Debut Single / Video "Puzzle Heart". August 31, 2020.
- 27.Metal Rules. Supergroup ACT OF DENIAL Finish Recording New Album 'Negative', New Single 'Down That Line' Coming October 25th!. October 18, 2020.
- 28.Obliveon - Band Update.
- 29.Everything2.com. Steve DiGiorgio. December 11, 2002.
- 30.Emptywords.org. Forgotten.
- 31.Wagner, Jeff. Mean Deviation: Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal – Jeff Wagner. Bazillion Points Books. 2010. 978-0-9796163-3-4.
- 32.McIver, Joel. To Live Is To Die: The Life and Death of Metallica's Cliff Burton – Joel Mciver, Kirk Hammett. Jawbone Press. September 27, 1986. 978-1-906002-24-4.
- 33.bassmusicianmagazine.com. Interview with Bassist Steve Di Giorgio. October 1, 2011.
- 34.bassplayer.com. Steve DiGiorgio: Back to Basics with Testament. March 17, 2017.
- 35.Staff, Invisible Oranges. 'A Vision of Misery' By Sadus Turns 25. Invisible Oranges - The Metal Blog.
- 36.EmptyWords 11-99 Interview Steve. emptywords.org.
- 37.The Metal Crusade Vol. 1 no. 3. emptywords.org.
- 38.The Metal Crusade Death For Life. emptywords.org.
- 39.STEVE DI GIORGIO Release Bass Playthrough For DEATH's 'Zero Tolerance'. metaladdicts.com. August 30, 2020.
- 40.Testament Frontman Says Band's Current Lineup Is Best Ever, Shares Surprising Fact About His Songwriting. Ultimate Guitar.
- 41.Guitar World's Bass Guitar Magazine (June 2007)
- 42.Fretlessbass.com. Steve Di Giorgio. February 4, 2015.
- 43.Bassplayer. Steve DiGiorgio, Extreme Metal Session Ace. March 9, 2010.
- 44.Bayareametalscene.com. Bay Area Metal Scene.
- 45.Bryan Beller. Machines of Death – The Complete Interviews. Bassplayer. May 11, 2012.
- 46.AllMusic. Illusions – Sadus | Credits.
- 47.AllMusic. Severed Survival – Autopsy | Credits. June 19, 1989.
- 48.AllMusic. Swallowed in Black – Sadus | Credits. September 11, 1990.
- 49.AllMusic. Human – Death | Credits.
- 50.AllMusic. A Vision of Misery – Sadus | Credits. April 28, 1992.
- 51.AllMusic. Individual Thought Patterns – Death | Credits. June 22, 1993.
- 52.AllMusic. Elements of Anger – Sadus | Credits. August 18, 1998.
- 53.Jason Hundey. The Gathering – Testament | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards. AllMusic. June 8, 1999.
- 54.AllMusic. The Fragile Art of Existence – Control Denied | Credits. November 30, 1999.
- 55.AllMusic. Feeding the Machine – James Murphy | Credits. January 26, 1999.
- 56.AllMusic. Horror Show – Iced Earth | Credits. June 26, 2001.
- 57.AllMusic. The Focusing Blur – Vintersorg | Credits. July 20, 2004.
- 58.AllMusic. Memoirs of a Broken Man – Futures End | Credits. October 13, 2009.
- 59.AllMusic. Roadrunner United: The All Star Sessions – Roadrunner United | Credits.
- 60.AllMusic. Out for Blood – Sadus | Credits. May 2, 2006.
- 61.AllMusic. Angel Down – Sebastian Bach | Credits. November 20, 2007.
- 62.AllMusic. Death Rap – Necro | Credits. September 10, 2007.
- 63.AllMusic. Charred Walls of the Damned – Charred Walls of the Damned | Credits.
- 64.AllMusic. Cold Winds on Timeless Days – Charred Walls of the Damned | Credits. October 11, 2011.
- 65.www.geoda.com.ar. New album "Here and Now" to be released June 7th. June 3, 2019.
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