Obscura lost drummer Hannes Grossmann in 2014 and replaced him with Panzerballet drummer Sebastian Lanser. Now Lanser, while still an official member of the group and who will be drumming on the new record, has announced that he will not make the trek over to North America for Summer Slaughter this year. According to the group's Facebook it's because of a left hand ailment, which sucks! Get better!
"Regrettably, we are unable to perform at Progstage Festival, Tel Aviv and Metaldays Festival Slovenia this year. Our drummer Sebastian Lanser overstrung his left hand and suffers from a serious inflammation since then. Playing this complex music with this condition won’t allow us to play a tight 80 minute headlining show our fans and we as musicians demand.
We decided not to play a halfhearted set, instead we postpone both concerts and come back with an extended live show including songs of our new, upcoming album. Dates will be published soon.
In the meantime Alex Rüdinger (Conquering Dystopia) will step in to play this year’s Summer Slaughter festival tour in North America.” – Steffen Kummerer
Big surprise that Rüdinger is in the group for this tour. That guy keeps better time than a clock and seems to be recruited by every band that needs a drummer. Here's a video!
Obscura explained how Rüdinger was able to save the band for Summer Slaughter, but couldn't save them for upcoming festivals.
The set on Summer Slaughter is only 30 minutes which was possible to learn within this short time frame. The headlining shows of 80 minutes are just not possible to learn within three weeks to satisfy our fans and the band. The material is just too complex and physically demanding.
Long story short, the shred will still be brought in copious quantities this summer.
