Well, Protest The Hero’s crowdfunded album just got even more exciting. While the Canadian metal group is sad to announce that drummer Moe Carlson has chosen to step down, they’ve recruited none other than Lamb Of God’s Chris Adler to record drums for the new album.

Protest The Hero issued the following statement providing an update on the recordings and confirming Adler’s guest role on the album:

“We know we have been silent for the past couple months while we record this beast, but we assure you it’s almost done and is turning out extremely well. We plan on releasing our beloved “pupdates” throughout the summer while we set up to release this new album so stay tuned for that.

With all this incredible progress, however, we have some sad news. Our brother and friend Moe has decided to leave the band to go back to school in pursuit of some of his other passions. When our gruelling studio schedule just wouldn’t work with his gruelling school schedule, we realized we would need to find a session player for the new album. With Moe’s guidance and approval, we found us a nice match in Chris Adler! Having known Chris for a few years, and with he and Moe being drum-buddies, it seemed like a perfect fit. We are happy to say that Chris has already come and gone from canada and has left us with some beautiful drum tracks.”

Adler had the following to say about playing drums on Protest The Hero’s new album:

“I was thrilled to get the call to join up and help out my friends in Protest, how could I turn down one of my favorite bands? I’ve done a bit of session work before with Testament and Ron Jarzombek but nothing this immersive. I lived and breathed this record for 8 weeks and even lived in Toronto for a month with the guys. The experience was intense to say the least. Some of the most demanding and intricate drum work of my career. I’m very proud to have been a part of the Protest family and can’t wait to have you hear it.”

Carlson and singer Rody Walker spoke at greater length about Adler appearing on the new album in an exclusive interview with AuxTV. “He’s the one who helped me get my endorsements. I went in when he was tracking drums and hung out for the afternoon and heard some of the stuff. It sounds great,” Carlson shared with AuxTV. “He’s definitely been an influence on my playing style, so I think it’ll be a pretty natural fit for the record.” Walker went on to add that “He’s coming from such a different spot than us. We come to heavy metal through punk rock. It must have been strange for him playing some punk beats, and some of the punk beats he plays in a heavy metal way. This may come out being one of our more heavy sounding records, or more metal sounding record.”

While it’s sad to see Carlson leave, it’s great to see that he left on great terms with the band and is persuing his other passion. Plus, it’ll be amazing to hear an album from Protest The Hero with Chris Adler on drums! No word yet on who will permanently replace Carlson, or when the album will officially be released.