SERPENTCULT Parts Ways With Singer

Guitarist Frédéric Caure of SERPENTCULT — the Belgian band featuring former members of THEE PLAGUE OF GENTLEMEN and WELKIN — has issued the following update:

We have some important news for you.Times of change for the band! Change means dynamics, changes are good!

"In the last few months we have been working very intensively on our new album, 'Raised By Wolves'. It was and still is a very strong period, in which we more or less 'rediscovered' ourselves. It was also a period of evaluation for all of us in the band about what we are actually doing in the band, what we want from it, and where we want to go.

"It went so far that about two months ago, we even discarded about 80% of the new material just to start again from scratch. We don't want to make 'Weight Of Light 2', we want to make something exceptional.

"Creativity, vision, future, motivation and other very personal related topics are things we often discussed in the last series of months.

"As a consequence of all this, our singer Michelle [Nocone] has decided to leave SERPENTCULT a few days ago for both personal and band related reasons. Cozy [drummer Frederik Cosemans], Steven [Van Cauwenbergh, bass] and myself agreed with her decision.

"I speak for the whole of the band when I say that the material we have been writing for 'Raised By Wolves' recently is by far the best stuff we have ever made. The music comes straight from the guts, has clear vision, and in comparison with our previous material, is far more avant garde and experimental. However, the music still retains the typical tone and heavyness of SERPENTCULT.

"The more the new songs were taking actual shape, the more we were wondering what position the vocals would be taking on this new material. Together with Michelle, we also concluded that the traditional setup of three musicians and a front vocalist does not work anymore for us.

"Therefore, we have decided with SERPENTCULT to make some drastic changes. For a while already, I was playing with the idea of redefining the concept of a 'band'. The departure of Michelle was the trigger for me to make these plans actually happen.

"This is what will follow:

"First of all, Michelle will not be replaced! This would be pointless to us, and would only be a weak attempt to continue what we've been doing on 'Weight Of Light'. However, let it be clear that SERPENTCULT is NOT turning into an instrumental band!

"From now on, the band will consist of a creative core of a limited amount of people, which are Cozy, Steven and myself, as permanent members. This 'core' will lay out the vision and the basics for all the future SERPENTCULT happenings.

"The band will expand with a few other musicians, who will join us in the realisation and creation of our visions and music. These members will be very close to the band, but will not be permanent SERPENTCULT members.

"We do not limit ourselves to an amount, nor to certain instruments. Vocals and lyrics will still play an important role in SERPENTCULT, however, the approach will be totally different from what is commonly accepted and expected in modern music.

"This new concept will allow us to spread our wings, and touch new horizons. We are extremely excited to start working within this new setup, and we see it as one of the most challenging things we have ever done in music.

"These changes obviously have their impact on the short-term future.

"First of all, we have to cancel all the one-off gigs in the coming two months. We would like to apoligize to the bookers of these gigs for the trouble this has caused them.

"For the European tour with DARK FORTRESS, SARDONIS and FARSOT; Michelle and the band have agreed to make it happen. This will be the last opportunity to see SERPENTCULT in the 'old' lineup.

"After this tour, the band will start working intensively on the new concept, and we will be proud to present you the new material at Tom G Warrior's 'Only Death Is Real' — Roadburn Festival, April 16th.

"Due to these events, we also postponed the recordings of 'Raised By Wolves'. We haven't set up a new timeframe yet, but we hope to still make it happen this year.

"We would like to stress that the friendly relations between SERPENTCULT and Michelle remain unaffected, and that we are still good friends. These four years together in the band have been awesome, and we wish her all the best for the future in her new projects and personal life.

"We know that the steps we are taking now will create strong reactions amongst the fans. SERPENTCULT, however, has never been a band you know what to expect from. We do this because it's our minds and hearts speaking. We follow the path that we think is right, and we'll be the only ones to judge this.

"But this is what it's all about for us; we do what we want and what we feel we must do. We do not seek acceptance, our lives will be free…"

SERPENTCULT's full-length debut, "Weight of Light", came out in North America on January 27, 2009 via Rise Above Records.

Hailing from Ghent, Oost-Vlaanderen, SERPENTCULT delivers punishing, downtuned music that transcends the standard doom fare into a maze of monolithic, molten metal. SERPENTCULT's massive sound, a self-described "neck-breaking, down tuned riffing apocalypse," has drawn parallels to CELTIC FROST, CATHEDRAL and ELECTRIC WIZARD and met with much critical acclaim within the underground metal community since the band's formation in 2006.