Final Vestiges of Metal Alliance Tour Unravel
Oy. Maybe Metal Alliance and Summer Slaughter should have swapped names this year: Metal Alliance has turned into a proverbial Agatha Christie novel.
To review: first Entombed A.D. were “pulled off” the trek for reasons that weren’t initially clear; then the remaining bands — Deicide, Hate Eternal, Black Crown Initiate, and Lorna Shore — announced that they would complete the tour, albeit without the Metal Alliance branding; then Deicide accused Metal Alliance’s organizers of turning the tour into a “mess.”
And yesterday, against all odds, things got worse.
First, on Monday, Lorna Shore announced that they, too, were leaving the package, due to “multiple passings in a few members family’s” [sic]. Then, yesterday, Hate Eternal announced that they were out as well:
“After last night’s set in Lubbock, Erik suffered an injury during load-out to his playing hand (left hand) that will cause Hate Eternal to miss tonight’s show in Austin. Sitting out tonight is not what we want to do, but it is at the behest of the ER doctor that saw him last night.
“Hate Eternal is en route to Dallas now with the intent to play tomorrow. Erik will see another doctor in the am to have the injury treated and evaluated once again.”
And then, later:
“Due to the nature of the injury and persistent swelling, the doctor has advised Erik to not use the hand at all for the next 4-5 days minimum. As such, this spells the end of the Deicide/Metal Alliance tour for Hate Eternal.
“The immediate plan is to get back to Tampa and have Erik‘s hand reevaluated again, and figure out when he can play again.
“Plans are in the works for a fall tour, and we’ll be doing our best to hit the places we’re missing this week. We’ll update you all on that just as soon as we have news.
“Thank you all for your patience, understanding and well-wishes. We’re looking forward to seeing you all on the road again this fall.”
Subsequently, Deicide and Black Crown Initiate have cancelled the final three remaining dates of the tour, which would have played Manhattan, Baltimore, and Charlotte, NC.
I’m loathe to accuse anyone of mendacity here, because a) you’ve got nothing if you don’t have your health, and b) losing a family member is probably the third-worst thing that can happen to you (the first two, of course, are being subjected to a Thy Art is Murder live performance, and seeing the road sign “Welcome to New Jersey”). But as a friend put it: “You gotta wonder if all these bands are just making up excuses to bail on this cursed tour.”
Regardless, this all has all obviously been a total bummer. These are some good bands, and they didn’t deserve this. Let it speak to the sad state of the metal touring business that a package this solid couldn’t sell tickets.
