Brazilian drummer Fabricio Ravelli has parted ways with L.A. thrashers HIRAX.

His statement reads: "I joined the band around a year ago, by that time, I had just came from Brazil to US and I definitely had some good times playing with Hirax but I do believe that there's a time on life that you have to make decisions about what you want for your life, I chose to have some SELF RESPECT.

I wish good for the band but I came here to US to make it in music and this is my dream and I'm moving foward with my career. It's gonna be hard for me to find myself on a situation harder than the situations that I had to go through when I first got here like, living on my car or living in innumerous different places every day just because of what I want.

So I'm not here to mess around and I'm definitely not stoping now, so that means that you're gonna hear from me REALLY soon and I'm just glad that now I also can get to play my drums more freely 'cause there was a lot of elements that with Hirax it just didn't fit. Yeah I do love fast double bass and fast stuff but I also grew up with all kinds of metal and some really heavy ass brazilian percussion.

It's like that saying from the great Muhammad Ali, you know, 'He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life'. I wanna say a big thanks for all the fans/friends that I met around the world touring or through internet, I'm definitely seeing you guys again soon and also for my ex-bandmates: Glenn (also not in Hirax anymore, if you need a killer guitarrist you should get a hold of this guy), Lance and Steve, we had some killer times together. Anyone out there whose serious and needs a drummer I'll be glad checking it out.

Stay tuned on my here for the next days and find out what's my next step, you're not gonna regret."