French gore-grinders, Benighted, have announced the voluntary departure of co-founding member and friend Olivier Gabriel, and welcome Carnival In Coal guitarist Fack as their newest member.

Vocalist Julien Truchan comments: "I now have to face the most difficult episode of our Benighted adventure as my brother Olivier decided to leave the band. He took his decision with all the love and respect that he is known for. I thank him for his limitless friendship and all the good times that we shared in Benighted for 19 years. Olivier is and will continue to be my best friend and brother forever!

“We are ready to welcome Fack (Carnival In Coal, Infected Society) with open arms as our new guitarist. He has already been involved with the band for a year and we cannot wait to present Necrobreed on tour. See you all in the pit and share the sickness with us!"

Olivier Gabriel explains his decision: "Dear friends, I have made the hard decision to close my chapter of more than 18 years with Benighted. Those were pure bliss. I have made friends for life, experienced unforgettable moments with past and present members of the Benighted family, and last but never least with you, the fans, label teams, producers, promoters, bookers, reporters, photographers, and many more.

“Sadly, I can no longer muster the energy that it takes to keep up with the frantic rhythm of Benighted. We have come a long way since our first rehearsals at the Chazelles sur Lyon youth cultural centre and the living room at the place of Julien's father. We have also come a long way since our corpse paint black metal days, Bontempi keyboards, and Cradle of Filth style female vocals.

“It has been such a long road since Julien and I rehearsed at my parents' home with copy/pasted Cannibal Corpse lyrics and recorded demos on cassette tapes. All those years on the road gave me so much hysterical laughter, friendship, and love. As of today, all of this is over for me, but I will never forget and always be grateful. I love you all.

“I want to thank my family and friends for their patience, while I was away so often. These last 30 years, I have shared everything with my brother Julien, whose positive energy I admire. I wish you all the best with the band and our kickass new album! Long live Benighted! See you all somewhere soon!"

Fack comments on his joining the band: "I am extremely glad and proud to have been asked to join the Benighted family and thank all of them for their warm welcome. It was an honour to fill in for Gab on the Abysmal European Tour last year and I feel lucky to keep walking in his footsteps. I have nothing but respect and true friendship for him as a person and musician. Gab, I wish you all the best in the world, bro! See you all on the 'Worship the Necrobreed Tour'!"

Benighted recently released a video for “Reptilian”, a track from their upcoming new album, Necrobreed, to be released on February 18th in Europe, and February 24th in North America via Season Of Mist. Pre-order the new album in various formats at this location.

Benighted deliver total brutality with their new album, Necrobreed. A relentless assault from start to finish, Necrobreed unleashes a torrent of fierce blast beats (courtesy of former Necrophagist drummer Romain Goulon), punishing breakdowns and some of the most savage vocals the genre has ever seen. Necrobreed inflicts maximum aural damage with each and every track, and establishes Benighted as the new face of extreme death metal.

Tracklisting:

“Hush Little Baby”
“Reptilian”
“Psychosilencer”
“Forgive me Father”
“Leatherface”
“Der Doppelgaenger”
“Necrobreed”
“Monsters Make Monsters”
“Cum With Disgust”
“Versipellis”
“Reeks of Darkened Zoopsia”
“Mass Grave”

“Reptilian” video: