Keyboardist/programmer Chris Spicuzza has officially announced his departure from CHIMAIRA. In the following statement issued to ThePRP.com, Spicuzza outlined the reasons for his exit from the group:

“As of early January I decided to leave Chimaira. The choice was extremely tough and stewed around in my mind for quite awhile. Many things led to this decision. The situation in Chimaira had ultimately become a negative environment that I had to get out of. Secondly, the music industry is completely fucked and honestly, I became concerned for my future. The amount of work and stress I took on got the best of me. I guess if you’re not happy or having fun, what’s the point?

As far as the new Chimaira album, I have not contributed to it. There is no doubt in my mind that Chimaira’s sound will not suffer minus my presence. The demos I heard showed great potential and I’m sure the album will melt faces. I’m proud to say I was on five Chimaira albums and wish those guys the best.

I’ve decided to shift gears from music to gaming. A group of friends and I started up a mobile gaming company. We’re about to launch our first iPhone game. It’s a location based RPG. Think of it as foursquare meets Mafia Wars but full of zombies. If you’re interested you can follow us on twitter, @irlgaming, or visit www.irlgaming.com.

I will always cherish the amazing worldwide journey Chimaira gave me. I took many things for granted that I now regret. Watching our last DVD helped me realize how fucking amazing our fans are. Thank you for being so passionate. I have a lifetime of memories thanks to you.

The dude who made noise and headbanged, Spicuzza.”

Chimaira have been in the studio finishing up their upcoming record, to be released in August in North America, South America and Japan via eOne Music.

The band recently issued the following brief update: "We sent the raw tracks to Zeuss (3 INCHES OF BLOOD, HATEBREED, SHADOWS FALL, etc.). Mixing has begun! One step closer to having the new record complete!"

Signing their new record deal with eOne Music, Chimaira frontman Mark Hunter offered: "We are excited to start the new decade with a team that believes in our music, has our back and thinks outside the box. eOne are one of the very few labels out there who still give a damn about the genre and Chimaira are proud to be a part of that. Expect great things in 2011."

Stay tuned for further updates.