ATHEIST Announces New Guitarist

June 8, 2011

Reactivated seminal technical metal pioneers ATHEIST have announced the addition of guitarist Jason Holloway to the group's ranks following the departure of Jonathan Thompson, who took a job in the medical field. Both Holloway, 27, and new ATHEIST bass player Travis Morgan, 20, have taken part in the American, and European tour dates thus far on the band's "Jupiter" world tour and "have brought a lot of new energy to ATHEIST," according to frontman Kelly Shaefer.

Quality video footage of ATHEIST's performance at this year's edition of the Neurotic Deathfest, which was held April 29-30, 2011 at 013 and MIDI theatre in Tilburg, Holland, can be viewed below (courtesy of "letthedeathmetalflow").

ATHEIST is touring in support of its critically acclaimed new album, "Jupiter", the band's first studio CD in 17 years. The first show took place on February 12 at the Cabana Inn in Sarasota, Florida, on the 20th anniversary to the day of the loss of the band's original bass player Roger Patterson. The concert marked the group's debut appearance with new bass player Travis Morgan.

Shaefer said of Patterson, who was killed in a van accident during he band's first American tour in 1991, "We thought this would be a fitting start to our upcoming tour of the world where it all started for ATHEIST in Sarasota, to honor our friend, and to also debut for the first time songs from our new album, 'Jupiter'."

"Jupiter", the long-awaited fourth album from ATHEIST, sold around 500 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at position No. 88 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

"Jupiter" was released on November 9, 2010 (one day earlier internationally) via Season Of Mist. The CD was recorded at LedBelly studios in Atlanta, Georgia with engineer Matt Washburn and was mixed by Jason Suecof (TRIVIUM, CHIMAIRA, DEVILDRIVER). The cover artwork (see below) was created by Eliran Kantor, who has previously worked with TESTAMENT, SIGH, ANACRUSIS and GWAR, among others.

The bass tracks on the effort were laid down by Jonathan Thompson, who also plays bass for drummer Steve Flynn's other group, GNOSTIC.

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).