Bye Bye Anette!

Another chapter of the Nightwish story has ended today. Nightwish and Anette Olzon have decided to part company, in mutual understanding, for the good of all parties involved.

In recent times it has become increasingly obvious that the direction and the needs of the band were in conflict, and this has led to a division from which we cannot recover.

Nightwish has no intention of cancelling any upcoming shows, and as a result we have decided to bring in a substitute vocalist starting in Seattle 1.10.2012. Her name is Floor Jansen from The Netherlands (ex-After Forever, ReVamp), and she has graciously stepped in to help us complete the Imaginaerum world tour.

We are all strongly committed to this journey, this vehicle of spirit, and we are sure that this will lead to a brighter future for everyone.
We forever remain excited about the adventures to come, and we are extremely proud of the two beautiful albums and the wonderful shows we shared together.

- NIGHTWISH & Anette Olzon

Sabaton Breaks Up

Oh, man, sad news from the Sabaton front, though I was kind of expecting this since there has been a rumour circulating about this for over a week now.  But it's official: Sabaton is breaking up.  You can read the band's statement here.

Only two of the original six members, who had been together for 12 years, will remain with Sabaton, carrying the banner: vocalist Joakim Brodén and bassist Pär Sundström.  The other four are all leaving.

Lots of big shoes to fill here!  It's impressive that this band had the same line-up for as long as it did, too.  I wish Joakim & Par all the best in replacing Rikard, Daniel Mullback, Daniel Mÿhr, and Oskar.

The next album, Carolus Rex, is due out in May.

Farewell Elis

Yesterday Lichtenstein's Gothic metal band, Elis, announced that they were calling it quits, just a few days after their new singer Simone Christinat announced to the band she was leaving Elis due to too much stress.  Simone also sings for Legenda Aurea, and she replaces Elis's second vocalist, Sandra Schleret, who herself replaced original vocalists Sabine Dunser, who died of a brain hemorrhage in 2006.

The statement from the band reads:

We have to inform you that ELIS has passed into history.  Simone told us a couple of days ago, that she will leave ELIS immediately due to too much stress. 

We have decided now to quit the band. Too much things happened during all these years to continue once again. 

But on the other side, there were a lot of good and lucky moments in this almost ten years of ELIS. Therefore we want to say thank you for your support, your dedication and your friendship through all these years!

But this will not be the end of our musical careers, some projects are already in the pipeline. You will find more information about these things very soon on this location.

Cheers and take care!
Max, Tom, Pete, Chris

It seems like Elis has had really bad luck with their vocalists.  Simone had only been with the band 8 or 9 months before deciding to depart.  I'm not sure why Sandra left, but the band only recorded one CD with her, the rather excellent Catharsis.

I really liked Elis so I am sad to hear this!  I loved Sabine, but I also really enjoyed Sandra's voice when she sang with them.  I was looking forward to hearing how they sounded with Simone. They had strong, evocative music I enjoyed very much.  They will be missed!  Best wishes to them all!

Sandra Schleret Leaves Elis

This announcement from the Lichtenstein Gothic metal group Elis just hit my Facebook feed.  In Sandra's own words:

More than 4 years ago I joined Elis as their new singer. Our journey was very special to me, and I think that we found one another at a time when we really needed it the most. I gave my best to honor Sabine's legacy and nevertheless stay true to myself and open a new chapter together with the band. I am sorry to say that we have reached a point where this chapter now comes to an end. We had an amazing and exciting time and the guys really touched my heart. We made a great album in which I've put all of my heart and which means a lot to me. We sat together and talked long about everything, and we concluded that it is better to go seperate ways from now on. I simply feel the need to devote myself to my own music, my aims and tasks, and the guys can not accompany me on that way because they have their own aims, ideas and expectations. I am sure that it's the right desicion, because it is very important to me to dedicate myself to everything I do with full heart and soul. Now that I can not ensure this anymore I think it's only fair to say it freely. Elis will always have my full support and my friendship will guide them on their way. The guys have found a great new singer and so I am leaving with a good feeling, though I am very sad about the end of our time together.

I dearly want to thank all the Elis fans, who gave me such a warm welcome! I hope we will see eachother again!


With all my best wishes,


Sandra

Wow. This makes me sad.  I was a big fan of Sandra with the band and I loved the album she did with them, Catharsis.  She was a great addition to the band and some of her songs were very touching to me on a personal level, particularly "Rainbow" which I blogged about here.  Sandra is a great vocalist and I wish her all the best on whatever path she takes, and the same goes with the band, too.
 
She alludes in her statement that Elis has found a replacement already, so I am very curious to see who that will be.

It's Official: Roy Khan leaves Kamelot

Kamelot hasn't been a band that has captured my heart, but that isn't to say I don't respect their work or their place in the metal scene. Roy Khan is an amazing vocalist, no doubt.  Today, Roy confirmed he's leaving the band, after months of speculation.

While the speculation seems to mostly revolve around some kind of religious conversion, I read something else that is far more insidious: I suspect there is a mental health issue at play here, and that is something I have a hell of a lot of empathy for.  I can't imagine having a mental health challenge and living the life of a rock star on the road, without some self-destrucitve behaviour coming in to play. It seems to me that Roy is making this decision to take care of himself in the best way possible. As someone who pretty much gave up a career due to a mental health issue, I can relate to this, and I sincerely wish Roy all the best with whatever path he chooses.  It takes a lot of bravery to step back, set boundaries, and make difficult decisions in the interest of having a healthy life.

Roy, I wish you a path of healing, strength, and serenity.

Kiuas singer Ilja Jalkanen quits!

If you have read some of my posts, like this one, you would know that I am a big fan of Kiuas! Today, Ilja Jalkanen just announced that he quit Kiuas because of the fact that "My heart is not in heavy metal anymore, and a great band like Kiuas deserves a singer completely dedicated to the music." I am very devistated by this because they were a power metal band on the rise in Finland and they were just starting to get big with him in the band! They were up and coming and this news is just hard to hear because his vocals were vastly improving on every album! I hope Kiuas finds a good replacement because it is hard to find a unique singer nowadays. Kiuas is a great band, but Ilja's vocals gave them a sound that no other power metal band had! Sure for some people, his unique voice was hard to adjust too and some just never liked his voice, but Ilja gave Kiuas an edge! The four albums of great music with Ilja will never be forgotten! I wish Ilja and Kiuas the best!

You can read the main article here.

Legendary progressive metal drummer Mike Portnoy quits Dream Theater

Today marks the end of an era for Dream Theater and progressive metal. Drummer Mike Portnoy quit Dream Theater today Sept. 9, 2010. Mike has been with the band since their early beginnings and now the group is without a drummer for the first time in the band's history. Here is what he had to say about his decision:

"After 25 years, I have decided to leave Dream Theater," says Portnoy. "After
having had such amazing experiences playing with Hail, Transatlantic and Avenged
Sevenfold this past year, I have sadly come to the conclusion that I have
recently had more fun and better personal relations with these other projects
than I have for a while now in Dream Theater." -His Facebook page

The decision came just before the band started to record their new album in Jan. 2011 and before kicking off another world tour. You can read more about it in this article here.

Therion vocalist Snowy Shaw calls it quits

Some news in the symphonic metal world. Vocalist Snowy Shaw has quit the band Therion after only two studio albums in the four years he has been with the group.

"I've had a terrific and great time touring and working with THERION and I do wish them nothing but the best in the future, but I've felt for some time that it's time for me to move on," Snowy told BLABBERMOUTH.NET. "I also wanna take the opportunity to show my gratitude and thank all the loyal fans for their support, love and understanding." -quote from Blabbermouth.net

You can view the main article here.

Carmen R. Lorch (ex Schäfer) leaves Coronatus

Some news from the symphonic/gothic metal community. After reading the post that Dawn of Destiny now has two singers, I was curious about Coronatus. So as I did, I just discovered that their long time vocalist, Carmen R. Lorch (ex Schäfer) , just left the group with this letter on their main website.

This leaves Coronatus without a vocalist as their other member, Lisa Lashe, left the group in January. So at this time, Coronatus has no vocalist(s).

Links:

Carmen's bio

Coronatus' last.fm page

Tanja Maul Parts Ways with Dawn of Destiny

Relaxing with my morning coffee just now, I was checking my Facebook news feed and came upon absolutely devastating news: Tanja Maul, vocalist for Dawn of Destiny, has left the band.

Quoting from the band's MySpace page:

After 5 years Dawn Of Destiny and Tanja go separate ways from now on. Because of the "so-called" musical differences Tanja decided to leave the band. We regret this step, but consider it as right and consequent. We say thanks to Tanja for 5 years of friendship, musicianship and the engagement to support Dawn Of Destiny in reaching our current status.

Tanja's statement, also from the band's MySpace page reads:

Unfortunately somewhen in life comes the time of farewell. Regrettably the musical ideas within the band develop into a direction where I cannot identify myself with Dawn Of Destiny anymore. Therefore I want to announce, that I'm going to leave the band. I wish the guys of DOD big success on their new way. Dear DoD-Fans! Dear Fallen Angels! With all my hear I want to say thank you for the big support, the fun and the bright cordiality, that you gave me on each gig! The "Wacken-WG" is still an issue ;) Peter - You are the Best! Many thanks for the nice time! I am sure that we'll meet each other on stage! All of you shall feel embraced!

I am devastated! Utterly devastated! I am unspeakably devastated!

DoD is up there with Nightwish for me in terms of favourite bands, and Tanja is up there with Tarja in terms of favourite female metal vocalists. Tanja fucking PWNS! DoD fucking PWNS!

I am just...speechless...

OMG...Tuomas should hire her ASAP. THAT would fucking rock my world...

Tanja, I wish you all the best. DoD, I wish you guys all the best, too. I hope you find a suitable replacement, but that is going to be really, really hard...

Dragonforce in Search of New Singer

I am not a big fan of Dragonforce at all: too stock, their songs all sound the same to me, they act like a bunch of show-offs, and, in my opinion, there is way more interesting power metal out there. But I did read with interest tonight that their lead singer, ZP Theart, has parted ways with the band.

"It is with great regret that DRAGONFORCE announce a parting of the ways with singer ZP Theart," the group writes in a statement. "This is due to insurmountable differences of musical opinion but the rest of the band sincerely wishes ZP great success with his future projects."

"Insurmountable differences of musical opinion," eh? The snark in me wonders what these differences could have possibly been, and if DF will be better or worse off with a new singer. Though, it seems to me, they couldn't possibly be any worse.