Matt Smith frontman of melodic power-metal band Theocracy issued the following:
“I thought some of you might enjoy hearing a hint of some of the new material I’m working on. I’m (obviously) not a great keyboard player–it’s just a composing tool for me, and this is an early demo so these ideas will probably evolve quite a bit as they usually do. But I know it’s been quiet on this front lately, so here’s a little something. I hope you enjoy.”
Earlier last month the band announced the departure of longtime drummer Shawn Benson to pursue other interests. Continued work conflicts and scheduling issues simply made it impossible to move forward, so both parties amicably agreed that it was time for a change to be made. There are no hard feelings on either side, and the band wishes Shawn nothing but the best in the future.
“To be honest, I’m pretty devastated about this, as I expected to be playing with Shawn for as long as we kept going,” says vocalist Matt Smith. “But he is moving into a different phase of his life and could no longer give the commitment it takes to be in a band, so ultimately this is the only solution for all parties involved. I’d like to personally thank Shawn for helping to bring three albums from my imagination to reality, and his contributions can never be overstated. He will always be a part of the Theocracy family.”
In the interest of moving forward, Theocracy is beginning to look for candidates to fill the position. Interested parties can contact the band at theocracydrummersearch@gmail.
Theocracy recently returned from their third full tour of Europe and are currently working on new material. Their most recent album, “As the World Bleeds”, received rave reviews and landed on the Billboard Heatseeker Chart in the U.S. upon release. “As the World Bleeds” is the band’s third album, and their second release for Ulterium Records.
Theocracy‘s self-titled debut album was re-released through Ulterium Records on November 15th. 2013 in Europe and November 19th. 2013 in North America. Theocracy drummer Shawn Benson recorded the drums for the re-release, Matt Smith did the album re-mix and the mastering was handled by Mika Jussila [Stratovarius, Nightwish, Edguy]. Ulterium Records also released a 12″ double gatefold vinyl edition of the album, strictly limited to 500 copies worldwide. The album was originally released through MetalAges Records in 2003, and was very rare and hard to find.
Our review for their re-released debut album can be read here.
Pictures of their show last year November at Brainstorm Festival in the Netherlands. can be found here.
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