Lajos Sárközi

Lajos Sárközi was born in Budapest on 17 July 1967. He learned to play the guitar from László Nagyfi, the guitarist of the Hungarian heavy metal band Pokolgép, who remained an important figure in his life and career. In the 1980s he played in the band Légió before joining Sámán, which became a cult name on the Budapest underground metal scene.

Sárközi played with Sámán from 1985 to 1987 and again from 1990 to 1992. The band broke up in the early 1990s after failing to break through commercially.

In 1994 Tamás Szekeres left Omen. The band first approached Zsolt Daczi, who could not take on the role and recommended Sárközi. In Omen he played alongside his former teacher László Nagyfi, and the band made its most successful album, Jelek, in 1994. Sárközi wrote a large share of the music, and songs including Pokoli évek, Kurva vagy angyal and Fagyott világ are linked with his name. As a member of Omen he played on three records, two studio albums and one live album: Jelek, Koncert and Idegen anyag. He also guested on the song Hé, Te! on Ossian's 1999 EP Az utolsó lázadó.

In 2000 the singer József Kalapács left Omen, which then suspended activity. Sárközi helped Kalapács set up a new band named after him, drawing on former Sámán members, and was a member of Kalapács from its founding. He played on the band's albums including Ösztön (2002), Totem (2003), Keresztes háború (2005), Életreítélt (2006), Mítosz (2008), Apokalipszis (2009), Dühös nemzedék (2010), Poklok és mennyek között (2012), Enigma (2015), Örökfekete (2018) and Világvégre (2020).

He mainly played Edwards Explorer and Gibson Explorer guitars, having earlier used Jackson, Ibanez, Hamer and Gibson Les Paul and SG models.

Sárközi was married to Renáta Nagyfi, a cousin of his guitar teacher László Nagyfi. The couple had a daughter, Lili. Colleagues remembered him as a warm, smiling and approachable man.

In 2023 Sárközi had to step away from Kalapács for health reasons, and Máté Nagy stood in for him. He returned in June 2024, after which the band played with three guitarists, but his illness later returned and he again had to miss concerts. He died on 31 October 2026, aged 59, after a long illness. The nature of the illness was not made public.

Kalapács announced his death on its official Facebook page that afternoon, writing that after a long illness Lajcsi had left them, and asking fans to remember the smiling, approachable man he was whenever they listened to his songs. The band ended its message: Rest in peace, our friend.

Sárközi is remembered as one of the defining guitarists of Hungarian heavy metal. Omen's Jelek, which he helped write, is still regarded as a landmark album of the genre in Hungary, and his playing shaped the sound of Kalapács for more than 25 years.