Ex and Current Members of Obscura, Spawn of Possession and Noneuclid Team Up For New Band Alkaloid
Well, that didn’t take long: exactly one week after guitarist Christian Muenzner and drummer Hannes Grossmann quit Obscura they’ve announced the formation of a new band, Alkaloid, together with current Obscura bassist Linus Klausenitzer, Aborted / ex-God Dethroned / ex-Spawn of Possession guitarist Danny Tunker and classical composer Florian Magnus Maier (aka Morean) on vocals and guitars.
Both Muenzner and Grossman cited musical differences, not personal ones, as their reasons for leaving Obscura, so the facts that they’re continuing on their musical journey and doing so with a current member of Obscura shouldn’t be too surprising. Still, damn… that was fast! Although according to a statement from Grossmann (below) the band has been in existence since 2012.
The most interesting tidbit here is the addition of Morean, who has collaborated with Devin Townsend and Paradise Lost on classical orchestrations and is a member of Dark Fortress and Noneuclid (whose latest album Metatheosis you can stream right here). That’ll sure make things interesting, yeah? Sounds like we’re in for a whole lot more than standard tech-death, and Hannes Grossmann says as much in a statement on the new band, via press release:
As sad as things have turned out with Obscura, I’m really happy that the songs Christian Muenzner and I had initially written for their next record will find a new home in Alkaloid. However, I don’t see Alkaloid as a “tech-death” band, because we just aren’t. The music is definitely prog, but in terms of dynamics, song structures, harmonics and rhythms, it’s just too diverse to be put into a small sub-genre.
The band was brought to life in 2012 by myself and Florian Magnus Maier, who is by far the best composer I ever worked with. His band Noneuclid had a big impact on the last Obscura record ‘Omnivium’, on which I contributed the vast majority of the music and arranged all the songs. Generally this is the sort of music we would like to continue with Alkaloid, but make it sound more colorful, more vibrant and way catchier. I’m also happy to have some of my dearest friends on board, such as Christian Muenzner – we make music together for more than 10 years- and Linus Klausenitzer, who is one of my favorite bass players and did a great job on my solo record “The Radial Covenant”. Last but not least, we have Danny Tunker as third guitar player, who is just one of the best players I’ve ever seen. Once we toured with him – he was playing for Spawn Of Possession – I saw him learning two Obscura songs in about an hour, playing them flawless. Never seen a talent like him before.
Recording has just begun, and a release can be expected in early 2015.
