ANNOTATIONS OF AN AUTOPSY Parts Ways With Guitarist, Drummer; Replacemetns Announced

July 24, 2010

U.K. death metallers ANNOTATIONS OF AN AUTOPSY have parted ways with guitarist Sam Dawkins and drummer Brad Merry and have replaced them with Don Jones and Neil Hayward, respectively.

Commented the group: "Sam decided to leave [the band] after [our American tour with DYING FETUS] to follow home life with his girlfriend and loved ones. His heart wasn't into touring anymore, so he made the decision to leave.

"We parted ways with Brad recently due to a number of reasons, the main one being distance as he lived over 100 miles away from the rest of us and it made it very difficult for us to rehurse. That coupled with disagreements with certain band members [led to our] decision to part ways with him. He is currently looking for a new band within the London area and trying to go further with his MMA."

Regarding the band's latest additions, ANNOTATIONS OF AN AUTOPSY states, "Don is a guy who we've been playing in local bands with since we were all 14.

"For those of you who aren't familiar with his name, he played on our 'Welcome To Sludgy City' EP.

"The reason Don hasn't been with the band any longer than the EP was other commitments stopping him from touring, but now we finally have him and it's great to be working with him again.

"Taking Brad's place on drums is our longtime friend Neil Hayward. We met Neil a few years ago through playing some shows together. He's a great guy, likes skulls and that, metal and things."

On the topic of the songwriting process for ANNOTATIONS OF AN AUTOPSY's next studio album, the band states, "So we've now started writting our next CD, we've been listening to all the feedback you guys have given us and have taken it all onboard for this next CD. We don't really wanna do the usual, 'OMG, this is gonna be the heaviest CD ever, so heavy that Lambgoat will hate us,' but it's definitely going to be our angriest-sounding release to date. There will be mixes of both the EP/'Before The Throne Of Infection' [2008] CD sound with the sound of 'The Reign Of Darkness' thrown in with new elements our new members bring. It's all about the groove."

HardTimes.ca conducted an interview with ANNOTATIONS OF AN AUTOPSY when the band performed at Foufounes Electriques in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on June 2, 2010. You can now watch the 24-minute chat below.

ANNOTATIONS OF AN AUTOPSY's latest album, "The Reign Of Darkness", sold around 1,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at No. 34 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

"The Reign Of Darkness" was recorded at Foel Studio in Wales and was engineered by Chris Fielding. The CD was mixed by Erik Rutan (HATE ETERNAL, MORBID ANGEL, CANNIBAL CORPSE) at Mana Recording Studio in St. Petersburg, Florida.

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