THE FAMINE Calls It Quits

Vocalist Nick Nowell of the North Texas death metal outfit THE FAMINE has released the following statement:

"THE FAMINE never should have existed. I don’t mean that like when a jealous brother screams, 'I wish you were never born!' at his little sister. What I mean is that we came together as a group of married thirty-somethings with kids and small businesses. Our singer lived on the other side of the country. It was a cumbersome proposition, but we made it work.

"Most of you are familiar with the fire that claimed most of our equipment and the departure of our vocalist about a year ago. We should have never been able to make our last record, but we did. This brings us to the present day.

"As of this past Saturday, THE FAMINE is no more.

"In my mind, bands break up because Courtney Love kills their singer or because they can’t stand each other. Neither of those circumstances is descriptive of our situation. For us, life simply got in the way, as it often does. There is a medical emergency in my family, and I'll be moving to Los Angeles in August to care for a loved one in his final days. Mark [Garza, drums] and Andy [Andrew Godwin, guitar] both have families for which they are the breadwinners, and Jon [Richardson, bass] has been putting off going to graduate school. Instead of trying to simultaneously satiate Mark's drive and Andy's inability to tour and my distance from the band and Jon's webbed toes (sorry, Jon),we came together and decided as a group that it is time to lay THE FAMINE to rest.

"Words cannot express how thankful we all are to have had these experiences, and without those of you who are reading this right now, none of this would have been possible. So, from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank all of you for the support and kindness you have shown us for the past four years. Thank you for allowing us in to your lives, and for giving us the opportunity to connect, even though most of us have never met. You'll see us around. You might not see the same faces or the same names, but I know that music means too much to all of us to let it die with this moniker. So, this is goodbye for now."

THE FAMINE's new album, "The Architects Of Guilt", was released on February 15 via Solid State Records. The follow-up to 2008's "The Raven And The Reaping" was produced by D. Braxton Henry (ex-DEVOURMENT) and was mixed by Jason Suecof (THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, TRIVIUM, DEVILDRIVER).

The "Ad Mortem" video was shot in December at a steel fabrication shop in Dallas with Michael Dalton in an attempt to capture the frustration of ferocity that permeates through the 11 tracks on "The Architects Of Guilt".

According to a press release, "The Architects Of Guilt" "is not a sing-along or a feel-good record; it’s the death rattle and dying breath. THE FAMINE is not here to win popularity contests, simply create metal, red in tooth and claw. The music has become faster, more technical, even abrasive and discomforting, trading sheer aggression and energy for the lifeless sweeps and mechanized beats that have come to dominate and dilute the genre. The lyrics forego empty threats and skip the subtleties, calling out the deceit and duplicity of our leaders, and the decay next door masked by a flaking white picket fence and a familiar chemical scent. The band traces the fractures in stone pillars and cracks along the marble walls, sets their tools down after 11 tracks and walks away as if saying, 'Don't come to us when the temple falls.'"