PACK OF WOLVES NO LONGER A PACK, MUTINY WITHIN NOW WITHOUT

Two perennial MetalSucks faves, both of whom had seemingly bright futures ahead of them not very long ago, are calling it a day. Well, only one band is admitting they’re calling it a day, while the other is using that old “indefinite hiatus” chestnut, but let’s be real, every broken-up band is on “indefinite hiatus” until they’re not, so, uh, yeah.

ANYWAY, here’s the sad news:

• Former At All Cost guitarist Trey Ramirez, that scoundrel!, broke my heart for the second time in five years when he e-mailed us yesterday to let us know that his most recent project, Pack of Wolves, is throwing in the towel following two final shows later this month — one on Friday October 21, at Red 7 in Austin, Texas, and one on Saturday, October 22 at Full Throttle in San Antonio, Texas. It was just about a year ago that the band played one our two CMJ showcases, traveling to The Big Apple all the way from The Lone Star State, and creating a really positive buzz in the crowd — the number of industry folks who came up to Vince and myself after the show to ask “Who the hell were those guys?!?!” was staggering. (They also made my favorite shirt of the year not too long ago.) I guess it wasn’t enough, though. The band says that now “We all have other projects in music and in life” that will now take priority — Ramirez “is starting a heavier band with shredder buds from around the country,” guitarist Josh Holstein “is now married and has a great folk band called Kill County out of Lincoln, Nebraska,” and drummer Adrian Carillio “is in a ton of bands in the Austin area including Trip Crystals.” The silver lining, besides those farewell shows, is that the band’s awesome vinyl/digital download, Betrayer, can still be purchased from Arclight Records here, and the band is working on some new merch, “including our DVD of last years tour up to CMJ with MetalSucks.” While we eagerly await that parting gift, they’re giving away two totally killer, previously-unreleased tracks, “Battlefield of Heads” and “Burial Grounds,” for free download at those links I just included for ya. And stay tuned to their Facebook page for more news on their upcoming projects and that DVD.
• Meanwhile, Metal Insider reports that Mutiny Within “are taking an indefinite hiatus,” according to a statement on the band’s Facebook page. This is kinda shocking given that not too long ago seemingly every label in metal was after these dudes, and that they eventually signed with Roadrunner, and that they played a bunch of really big tours, and basically had every opportunity to “make it” that a modern metal band could ask for; but it’s not really shocking given that vocalist Chris Clancy and keyboardist Drew Stavola both left the band earlier this year, with Clancy posting a lengthy confessional on his own Facebook page in which he revealed that despite all the group’s apparent blessings, the band was dropped from Roadrunner, and that “the reality is I’ve earned $100” after four years of working with MW… which is certainly a big bucket of cold water to the face of anyone who believed the music business is in good shape right now. The band’s hiatus statement reveals that they have been unable to find a suitable replacement for Clancy since his departure. “We will be updating the MW pages and our personal pages as we start to announce new projects, touring work, etc.,” the band promises. “Also, we are still on great terms with Chris and have discussed releasing some 2nd album material in the future.” We’ll obviously let you know if/when that comes to pass.

Mourn in our comments section below.

-AR