Thirty five years on from their formation, British doom metal legends My Dying Bride has parted ways with vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe. A statement from the band reads as follows: "My Dying Bride has decided to part ways with vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe. "Please understand that this decision does not come lightly, hence our initial and painful silence while we gathered our thoughts and carefully considered our response to the disengaged, eerily abandoned state we suddenly found ourselves in. "Our collective decision to move forward without him is not something we thought we would ever be forced to say, but to ensure a continued legacy for what we hold dear to our hearts, we simply have to move past this. Whilst change can be difficult, we are doing our best to bring this new chapter forward with powerful positivity. "My Dying Bride are not on hiatus. We were never on hiatus. However, we do genuinely wish Aaron all the luck in the world in his new solo endeavours." Along with lead guitarist Andrew Craighan, Aaron Stainthorpe was one of the two remaining original members of the band until today. Two weeks before the release of their latest album, "A Mortal Binding," My Dying Bride cancelled all scheduled tour dates, citing internal tensions. Stainthorpe has said that he feared pushing forward in their state would cause relationships to become worse and felt that a break would be good for everyone. While the singer focused his energy on the band High Parasite, releasing their debut album, "Forever We Burn" in September of last year, My Dying Bride recruited Swallow The Sun vocalist Mikko Kotamäki to fill in and have just completed an Asian tour. There is currently no word on whether Kotamäki will become a full time member of the group, while High Parasite will be supporting fellow Yorkshiremen Paradise Lost on their upcoming UK tour dates.
