Greenfield, MA-based bashers LICH KING, who are currently unsigned, have issued an open letter to former SLAYER drummer Dave Lombardo, who was handed his walking papers prior to the band's Australian tour in February. Check it out below:

"Mr. Lombardo,

What with your contract woes with Slayer, it seems you are now no longer a member. Well, Dave, they say with every door that closes, another opens. A big door with our logo on it has just swung wide.

That's right, you just got called up to the big leagues. We'd like to invite you to drum for Lich King.

We are the world's premier unsigned western Massachusetts thrash metal band, and a position with us carries a great deal of clout and privilege. In addition to the twelve dollars we can give you out of our pay split after EVERY SHOW, we are willing to offer you a signing bonus of ome hundred and one (1) gift certificate for $20 at Red Robin.

Your duties will include:

• Drumming

• Hauling gear

• Driving long hours on tour

• Providing us with a practice space because ours belongs to our current drummer Brian

• Booking tours (also a Brian duty)

• Doing the band accounting (another Brian job)

• Recording and producing our albums (Brian again)

• Telling Brian he's fired

A caveat: we already have a Dave in the band, and to avoid confusion, you will have to pick a different first name. I think Steve Lombardo has a nice ring to it, but the choice is yours so long as it does not clash with any of our names and it passes our approval by a majority vote.

If you accept our terms, there will of course be an audition. We can't just let you in without seeing what you can do. Practice up on any three of our songs. We can send you the mp3s to practice to (we will deduct the 99 cents per song from your future earnings) and can schedule your audition at your convenience.

We await your response."

Cordially,

Tom, Dave, Joe & Rob

Lich King

For information on Lich King go to this location.

On a more serious note, at the beginning of March, Lombardo responded to the outpouring of support since being replaced by Jon Dette (also ANTHRAX) on the band's trip Down Under to Australia's Soundwave 2013.

"I have always known that my fans were awesome! But never has it been more clear to me than in the past two weeks, how passionate, supportive and sincere you really are. Thank you for all your kind responses and I hope to see you all very soon."

Lombardo claims he wasn’t paid for the band’s 2012 tour (aside from a small advance), and that he was told he would not be paid until he signed a long form contract which gave him no written assurance of how much or on what basis management would deduct commissions, nor did it provide him access to the financial budgets or records for review. It also forbade him to do interviews or make statements having to do with the band, in effect a gagging order. Read his full statement here.

Slayer's statement about Lombardo reads as follows:

"As regards [to] Dave Lombardo’s Facebook post, Slayer does not agree with Mr. Lombardo’s substance or the timeline of the events, except to acknowledge that Mr. Lombardo came to the band less than a week before their scheduled departure for Australia to present an entirely new set of terms for his engagement that were contrary to those that had been previously agreed upon. The band was unable to reach an agreement on these new demands in the short amount of time available prior to leaving for Australia. There is more to the account than what Mr. Lombardo has offered, but out of respect to him, Slayer will not be commenting further.”