Italian symphonic death metallers Fleshgod Apocalypse announced vocalist/guitarist Tommaso Riccardi has parted ways with the band a couple months ago due to “personal reasons.” The group has been spending a chunk amount of their time touring in support of their latest effort King, which was released in 2016 via Nuclear Blast. Therefore this news is rather shocking and unexpected. However, according to the band, it seems this split was inevitable.
Riccardi has been with the group since their sophomore album 2011’s Agony. The band posted a statement revealing that they decided to bring original vocalist, founder, and drummer, Francesco Paoli behind the mic. Paoli was the lead vocalist for the group’s debut album 2009’s Oracles. The group also recruited drummer David Folchitto (Stormlord, Prophilax) and lead guitarist Fabio Bartoletti (Deceptionist) to join them for their live shows.
This is a huge unexpected shuffle, however, the band are determined that their next album will be the darkest and heaviest that they’ve ever written.
Read the full statement below:
“Hello friends,
there’s no easy way to say this, so we’ll go straight to the point:
about a couple of months ago, our singer Tommaso left the band for personal reasons.
Our separation wasn’t painless, but everybody thought this was the best solution.
Therefore we sat down and tried to figure out all possible scenarios for a band that suddenly loses its frontman. The will to go on and continue this journey was stronger than everything else.
Since the message of Fleshgod Apocalypse goes beyond music itself, we couldn’t let someone who wasn’t there since the beginning be its spokesman.
So the only way to go on was to take a look back at our roots: we decided that Francesco Paoli, our drummer, songwriter, founder and first frontman of the band, was the natural choice for this delicate and also challenging position.
Our mastermind has finally taken back his originary role as lead vocalist and guitarist.
From now on, besides our precious soprano singer Veronica Bordacchini, we’ll have the honour to share the stage with the Italian metal legend David Folchitto (Stormlord, Prophilax) on drums together with the phenomenal Fabio Bartoletti (Deceptionist) on lead guitar.
Fleshgod Apocalypse are more focused and determined than ever.
Expect new epic live experiences and, most likely, the darkest and heaviest Fleshgod Apocalypse album that we’ve ever written.
We can’t wait to start this new, exciting chapter of our career.
Our friends in South America will be the first ones to witness the new course of the band, with Francesco as our frontman.
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
Fleshgod Apocalypse”
