British metallers SACRED MOTHER TONGUE announced over the weekend that they are parting ways with long term bass player Josh Gurner. The band now check in with an update:

"So to follow on from our touching news yesterday, here's a run down of what is coming up. For the time being we are pleased to announce that our very old friend Des Jones will be standing in on the bass. Some of you who caught us on the ILL NINO tour will have already seen us with Desmondo and I'm sure you'll agree he's done a blinding job of filling in. However to be clear, we are yet to fill a permanent position within Sacred Mother Tongue.

We are now open to applicants from anywhere in the UK, so here's how the process is gonna work. To eliminate the endless Facebook thread of dreamers and wannabes (thanks anyway for the offers but we are looking for the cream to replace Josh Gurner... lets not forget this boys talent?), we are asking for serious candidates to put themselves forward in the following ways.

Please submit:

1) a short CV or brief history of your musical experience,

2) tell us your location,

3) whether you have transport,

4) and any other major commitments,

5) links to websites and/or recorded music and/or live or performance videos of bands you've previously played in,

6) a video introduction of yourself and short performance of a piece of your choice,

7) a brief run down of the gear you currently use.

Send all this via email to Transcend Music (address available on the website) and we will be back to you very quickly. Many thanks for your participation, good luck to all out there. We will update you all with any more progress or information."

The band's previous statement regarding Josh Gurner's departure from the band follows:

"With a heavy heart the time has come to tell you all that we are parting ways with our long term bass player Josh Gurner. Josh is the little guy with the big presence, aside from his superb bass playing Josh was a big character in SMT and became notorious for his on and offstage antics including the infamous 'Josh-Pit'. At Download festival 2011 Josh leapt from the second stage and formed his own pit while still playing and at Sonisphere he climbed the Jager truck view platform without dropping a note! Those are just two of many great memories.

As we move in to our busiest and most important year for the band Josh has his own commitments elsewhere with Hacktivist and although we have all tried hard to make schedules fit together, the two bands both have too much going on for it to work.

So we bid Josh a fond farewell and send him on his way with all the love and luck we can muster.

A page turns and a new chapter begins for Sacred Mother Tongue."

Sacred Mother Tongue released their second album, Out Of The Darkness on April 15th, via The End Records in North America. Check out an album sampler below: