Chicago's MARAZENE have posted the following message at their MySpace page in remembrance of their fallen drummer, who passed away in January of this year:

"As most of you have probably heard by now we lost our brother Kristopher "Kristov" Kemp a little over nine months ago to a hard fought battle with colon cancer.

Kristov would have been 35 years old today [October 28th] and as per a band tradition that dates back to the beginning of our band we would have been in the process of celebrating birthday week (and more often than not - birthday month) as well as having a show lined up for whoever's birthday it happened to be.

But not this year.

All told it's been a very strange year. It has definitely been strange not having Kris around. That and sorting through personal issues and trying to figure out when Kris was going to be able to jump back in the mix full-on. We never really planned for this without Kris. So this year has all been new ground for us.

We had to come to a new place - a new starting point.

One of Kris's last messages in the final weeks was the following: "Just keep things movin along no matter what... We got too much ridin on this to just give up ya know..."

Marazene was as much Kris's dream as it was ours. And through all the good times and the bad we endure. For Kris, for ourselves, and for each other.

For those of you who have been emailing and commenting and asking - the answer is YES - there IS new music. There's a lot. And it's ready. More on that in the coming weeks...

But for the time being - thank you for reading. And thanks again for your continued support as we have figured out our next move."

In addition, Marazene multi-instrumentalist and co-founder Dietrich Thrall will break his silence on the matter in a multi-part tribute to Kris entitled Remembering Kristov,on his official blogzine - It's A Thrall World. In the 7,000+ word memoir, Dietrich will shed light on how he met Kris, how Marazene became the band it is today, overcoming the overwhelming struggles the band faced along the way, the behind-the-scenes inner workings of some of the bands most spectacular triumphs to date, and other details from 2001 thru the present time.

The first part will be posted Wednesday, October 28th with other segments being posted in the coming weeks.

Kristov, as he was known to his friends and fans, was a founding member of Marazene, whose accomplishments include the soundtrack to the Matrix: Revolutions and Matrix: Recalibrated, as well as one self-released album, MachiNation. Kristov participated in multiple National tours with Marazene from 2006-2007 and appeared in several videos for the band, which can be found at the group's YouTube channel.

Kristov also toured Nationally with New York's BILE in 2002.

Kristov was first diagnosed with intestinal cancer in May 2006 and had surgery to remove a cancerous growth and numerous lymph nodes followed by chemotherapy for much of the remainder of the year. Despite the intensive treatment, he continued to perform with Marazene as they toured the Midwest and Nationally with such acts as MUSHROOMHEAD, PSYCLON NINE, DEADSTAR ASSEMBLY, and THE HUMAN ABSTRACT.

Kristov is survived by his parents, John and Marcia Kemp, his sister Erin Kemp, his nephew Liam, and his dog Petunia.