RELAPSE RECORDS Explains Decision To Part Ways With TAU CROSS

Relapse Records has explained its decision to part ways with TAU CROSS, the multinational punk/heavy metal collective featuring AMEBIX bassist/frontman Rob "The Baron" Miller, VOIVOD drummer Michel "Away" Langevin, and members of cult crust outfits MISERY and WAR//PLAGUE.

On Tuesday (July 2),TAU CROSS posted a statement saying that the band was "parting company" with Relapse because "circumstances have arisen that must put an end to our relationship." Since the group's third LP, "Messengers Of Deception", was scheduled to come out on August 9 via the label, TAU CROSS said that it was "looking into other avenues to release the album." At the same time, the disc's first single, "Burn With Me", was removed from streaming services and Relapse's Bandcamp and YouTube pages, as was the rest of TAU CROSS's discography.

Earlier today, Relapse manager Rennie Jaffe released a statement explaining that the the company chose to sever its relationship with the band due to the fact that the liner notes of "Messengers Of Deception" "prominently thanked" Gerard Menuhin, a writer whose 2015 book, "Tell The Truth And Shame The Devil", is said to reject many of the official and popular accounts of World War II.

Relapse's full statement reads as follows: "Over the weekend the German magazine Ox brought it to our attention that a person named Gerard Menuhin was prominently thanked in the new TAU CROSS album, and specifically credited in the liner notes for inspiring Rob Miller. All Relapse records go through a vigorous proofing process — checking for spelling and punctuation mistakes, mostly. We all read this name, but didn't recognize it or think that it was anything other than a personal friend of the band's, that we did not know. Ox however recognized the name as a far right conspiracy theorist, focused specifically on Holocaust denial. Suddenly the lyrics and themes of the new record were cast in a new light, for me. I spoke with Rob Miller, who is the individual in the band who Ox was interviewing, and while he denied being a Holocaust denier, I cannot comfortably work on or sell a record that dabbles in ideologies such as these.

"There are certain issues that rise above mere political differences and this is one of them. I spoke with the rest of the band on Monday, and NONE of them had any idea who Gerard Menuhin was, and were as shocked by these references in the record, as we at the label were. I firmly believe that these references and mentions in the record do not represent the band as a whole. but rather just Rob Miller's. In light of all this, Relapse swiftly decided we cannot move forward with this album — we gave the masters back to the band, together with the rest of their catalog."

TAU CROSS is:

Rob "The Baron" Miller - bass, vocals
Andy Lefton - guitar
Jon Misery - guitar
Michel "Away" Langevin - drums
Tom Radlo - bass
James Adams - keyboards