Kiuas announces the departure of lead singer

[pollution]

Well crap... this sucks majorly Even if he didn't write songs he was a HUGE part of the band's sound and an awesome frontman for the band live. Seeing them live with Turisas this Saturday but suddenly not happy about it at all anymore with this news.. Also what REALLY sucks is that now there's no chance for them to play PP with the "real" Kiuas lineup anymore, a lot of people would have loved their show. At least Glenn can be glad he didn't already book them for next year's show.

This is straight from their website (kiuas.net):

Hello folks! We have some startling news: our lead singer Ilja Jalkanen has decided to leave the band after some serious thinking. The reasons for this are purely musical and the chemistry within the band has always been great. In Ilja’s own words: “My heart is not in heavy metal anymore, and a great band like Kiuas deserves a singer completely dedicated to the music.”

However, as all the fans know, although Ilja has been the voice of Kiuas for many years, his contribution to the songwriting has been very minimal and thus his departure won’t affect the bands musical direction or diminish the power of the music in the future in any way. The fact is that Kiuas will be able to continue it’s musical journey with passion only without Ilja – this is the only way to go.

Unfortunately Ilja won’t be able to perform the gigs we have booked for October 29th-31st. We we’re on the verge of cancelling them, but luckily we were able to get talented vocalist Asim Searah to stand in for Ilja on those gigs. We apologize for announcing this so late, but we had agreed with the local promoters to do the UK tour before we announced Ilja leaving the band.

We also have some good news: Ilja will still perform a farewell gig with Kiuas in Helsinki in January 2011. The exact date and venue will be announced later."

 

[Fire breath]

They played London last night. I didn't go cause I've seen Kiuas before and I already have a gig on Thursday so I gave it a miss. However he was a very good frontman indeed and quite a unique sounding voice as well. Kiuas is a hit or miss band for me. Some of it rules badly and other songs are average.

 

[Diamond45]

Damn.. I've always wanted to see them live (even put in a sponsorship bid to get them to PP USA). That really sucks to hear this.

 

[General Zod]

That is a shame. I dug the vocals a lot.

 

[compurocker]

Glad they are continuing without him and hope they are able to find a good replacement. He really was a big part of their unique sound, writing credits or not. Glad I got to see them at Powerfest however short it may have been.

 

[dcowboys311]

Bummer. I've been wanting to see this band for years.

 

[Metal66]

This really sucks BIG TIME. I'm getting really sick and tired of all these singers leaving bands. but at least I got to see them at Chicago Powerfest a couple of years ago. hope they find a really good replacement. I'll still like them. guess I need to finally listen to thier new cd that I got at Progpower.

 

[AMBR]

Also what REALLY sucks is that now there's no chance for them to play PP with the "real" Kiuas lineup anymore, a lot of people would have loved their show.

Massively bummed.

Was really hoping to see Ilja live with the band. Love their sound, but he was a big part of it for me. Hope they get someone comparable.

 

[St Enigma]

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Ilja leaving was a bummer indeed, but looks like they have found a decent stand-in for Ilja in a few days notice and will carry on with their scheduled gigs.


This is Kiuas (supporting Turisas, if you wonder about the backdrop) live at Pakkahuone, Tampere, Finland yesterday Oct 29. 2010 with Asim Searah (The Nibiruan) in vocals.



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What do you think? And no, no idea yet if they will consider him as a permanent singer, have to wait and see...



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