one of the 50 fastest guitarists in the world. In addition, Roadrunner Records ranked Laiho at No. 41 out of 50 of the greatest metal frontmen. Furthermore, Total Guitar conducted a public voting poll to determine the greatest metal guitarist of all time; Laiho was voted No. 1 out of 20 metal guitarists, with over 20% of the vote. Personal life and death On 1 February 2002, at a private ceremony in Finland, Laiho married long time girlfriend and Sinergy frontwoman Kimberly Goss. They shared identical tattoos of a coiled snake around their ring fingers and had each other's initials tattooed on the upper part of their left arms. According to official documents Laiho filed for divorce in November 2002, but withdrew his application, never to file it again. The couple separated in 2004, but were on good terms and had regular text and video contact until the day he died as confirmed by the Finnish press. Drama and infighting between Laiho's sister and widow resulted in a public back and forth exchange, with both parties airing their grievances to the Finnish media. For several years after his separation from Goss, Laiho was then linked with Kristen Mulderig, manager of Slayer until mid 2015. Later that same year he began a relationship with Kelli Wright, an Australian public relations manager who he became engaged to in September 2016 and the two married in a traditional handfasting ceremony in December 2017. After Laiho's death it was reported by Finnish news outlets that he had never divorced from Goss, revealing his marriage to Wright was not legally binding. Laiho had a history of alcohol abuse, which was the cause of his death. In an interview in 2019 he talked about how the pressures of life on the road affected him; he mentioned the song "This Road" from 2019's Hexed and said, "A lot of people thought it was about alcoholism, but it's more about being addicted to being on the road. Sometimes it feels like after 20 years of being on the road, everything just becomes kind of a blur and you don't know what the hell's going on." He explained how he used to drink heavily but cut back in 2013, not drinking while on tour anymore, and mentioned that Hexed first single, "Under Grass and Clover", documented the pain of withdrawal. On 4 January 2021, a post on his official