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narsilianshard
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 21, 2021 5:20 pm 
 

I was listening to the fantastic debut by Exophage today and was thinking how bizarre and abrupt their breakup was. They came out with this awesome self-released full-length out of nowhere, and I remember it receiving a decent amount of hype around the web. But within six months their Bandcamp and Facebook pages were deleted. No breakup announcement or goodbye, just a bunch of dead links and no way to find their music anymore despite their seemingly bright future.

Anyone else have examples of killer bands that mysteriously dropped off the face of the planet?
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hells_unicorn
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 21, 2021 5:31 pm 
 

Bane Of Winterstorm, probably the most brilliant merger of symphonic power metal with extreme metal elements. Released an absolute beast of a debut in 2013 in The Last Sons of Perylin (I still listen to this album regularly) and an equally amazing EP in 2015, then poof! The band just disappeared within months of putting out the aforementioned EP in digital format, they basically just pulled a Necrophagist and stopped putting out updates. Supposedly Anthony Finch still has the project active, but literally nothing has been put out either on the band's official social media or elsewhere since early 2016.
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Nocturnal_Evil
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Joined: Mon Apr 19, 2021 12:00 am
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 21, 2021 7:53 pm 
 

Pathfinder comes to mind. They popped onto the scene, dropped two of the absolute best (or worst, depending on who you ask) power metal masterpieces and then pretty much vanished. They released a re-recorded song with a new singer some time after, but then went completely dark. Supposedly they're still around, but who knows if they're making music.
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camjr01
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Joined: Sat May 26, 2018 10:34 pm
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 21, 2021 8:00 pm 
 

This actually has happened a surprisingly large amount of times in the whole "torture doom" scene. Vonn disappeared after two albums, Black Bile only put out one demo, Paganus stopped after a full length (they're still active but haven't released anything since 2008), Senthil split up after a demo, an EP, and a split album, even Wormplegm split up right after their debut full length and they only put out a single demo previously. It's probably for the better though- look at Bunkur (a band I actually like, but I think they stopped innovating after Nullify).

On an unrelated note, Rape on Mind, an experimental deathcore band, split up after just releasing one album, as well as Thergothon, who are widely considered one of the main pioneers of funeral doom metal.
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ShaolinLambKiller
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 21, 2021 8:44 pm 
 

Winter of Apokalypse for me. i remember reading about them in metal maniacs. got their debut album Solitary Winter Night and then disappeared. sure Kevin Schreutelkamp kept very busy even to this day, maybe that's why. who knows.
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Zelkiiro
Pounding the world with a fish of steel

Joined: Sat Apr 18, 2009 5:30 pm
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 21, 2021 8:47 pm 
 

Timeless Miracle. They have their 2nd album fully written, fully demo'd, and they're just in the process of getting the final mix recorded...

...or at least, that was their last status update. In 2017. Ugggggghhhhh...
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Xandaphon
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Joined: Thu Mar 11, 2010 9:25 pm
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 21, 2021 8:59 pm 
 

Lost Horizon comes to mind....

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MetalManiaCometh
Metal newbie

Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2017 12:32 am
Posts: 92
Location: United States
PostPosted: Wed Jul 21, 2021 9:20 pm 
 

Holy Terror. Terror And Submission and Mind Wars are absolute gems.

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Sokaris
Metalhead

Joined: Wed Dec 29, 2004 2:33 am
Posts: 1234
PostPosted: Wed Jul 21, 2021 11:11 pm 
 

Unexpect. I imagine their keyboardist leaving after their last album was the beginning of the end. They were never huge but seemed to have some hype behind them and their live performances would likely win over most crowds that might find their stuff out there.
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LithoJazzoSphere
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 21, 2021 11:16 pm 
 

Royal Anguish appeared to have a new album close to ready to go around '08 or so with killer samples online, and then...not a peep. Various members went off to other projects, so who knows what internal drama ensued.

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madman101
Metal newbie

Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2018 12:50 pm
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 12:47 am 
 

Noble Beast

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~Guest 1129985
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Joined: Sun Feb 28, 2021 5:52 pm
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:56 am 
 

Dark At Dawn. They reformed back in 2012 and released a nice MCD and bar some lives, not much since. Radio silence since 2018.

A few other 00s faves of mine like Ashes to Ashes, Bride Adorned, and Arch Nemesis all vanished into thin air as well.

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Terri23
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 3:04 am 
 

Witchfinder General. They had those three awesome releases in the 80s, and then dropped off the face of the planet for 20 years. Came back with a blues singer that nobody liked and disappeared again.
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21stCenturySkippyMan
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Joined: Thu Jun 10, 2021 9:30 am
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 8:18 am 
 

Slaughter Lord. An Australian black/thrash band that released some killer demos from 86-87 with great riffs and repeated usage of blast beats and then disbanded some time in the latter year.

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MeavyHetal
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Joined: Sat Oct 14, 2006 5:54 pm
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 10:11 am 
 

Anata :cry: :cry: :cry:

Maybe that fifth album will happen someday...

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MRmehman
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 10:42 am 
 

Italy's Nazgul dropped their only album in 2002, then vanished for nearly two decades. They teased a comeback a year or two ago but I don't think anything has materialised since. It's a shame too because they had a pretty cool gimick (all their lyrics were in Latin) on top of producing really good music.
Terri23 wrote:
Witchfinder General. They had those three awesome releases in the 80s, and then dropped off the face of the planet for 20 years. Came back with a blues singer that nobody liked and disappeared again.

That third album they dropped in the 2000's has to be the biggest waste of potential ever. Imagine if they came back with an actual singer and producer; I'm sure they could have had a comback as successful as Accept's. Guess no one wants to "lick your food" anymore when you're that old.
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narsilianshard
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 11:08 am 
 

madman101 wrote:
Noble Beast

The singer and main songwriter posted on Facebook about being sexually attracted to underage girls and defended the fact that he acted on those urges. Unsurprisingly the rest of the band quit there and then without comment.
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~Guest 334273
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:37 pm 
 

Intestine Baalism. Three album of top tier melodic death metal (with an healthy OSDM undercurrent) and then total silence as far i know...
A friend of mine is a super fan and wrote at their label few times, and the response was that they were still active. I really hope they pull off a Pharaoh!

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oldmetalhead
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Joined: Tue Apr 13, 2021 1:30 am
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Location: Helltown, United States
PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:46 pm 
 

Going back in time, Wrathchild America/Souls At Zero. They were a very popular local act in DC and Baltimore and briefly got on a major label, even had a video on Headbangers Ball. The drummer, Shannon, moved on to Ugly Kid Joe and then Godsmack. The rest of the band, I guess, hung up their guitars and got normal jobs.

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pressingtoplead13
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Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2009 6:05 pm
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 2:12 pm 
 

Both Exulcerate and Euphoric Defilement come to mind, both claim to be active but havent really have any activity to my knowledge. Exulcerate IMO is one of the best hidden gems, they have an old school sound and a perfect mix of old school death metal with brutal death metal, absolutly great band, and Aaron Mendola is a good vocalist.

Euphoric Defilement had a pretty nasty brutal death metal album, the vocalist is the closest I've ever heard to someone sounding like Cranial Impalement era Matti Way.

Also a black metal band called Ugulishi from finland. They had a few demos/splits/ep's that sounded promising and then split up and dissappeared.

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Kalaratri
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 2:18 pm 
 

Vaivatar from Finland put out a really great melodic/symphonic black metal album in 2017 and then disappeared completely. The members chose to remain anonymous and the band doesn't have any social media presence so there's no way to even contact them to find out what happened.

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coupdebleus
Metal newbie

Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2019 3:11 pm
Posts: 282
PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 2:45 pm 
 

This is the annual thread where I come to bemoan the lack of news from Dolorian, right? :(
Though if Virgin Black came out with Pianissimo after 10 years of radio silence, I guess one can hope.

MRmehman wrote:
Italy's Nazgul dropped their only album in 2002, then vanished for nearly two decades. They teased a comeback a year or two ago but I don't think anything has materialised since. It's a shame too because they had a pretty cool gimick (all their lyrics were in Latin) on top of producing really good music

If I'm not mistaken, I recall them mentioning their second album as almost done as early as 2007 or so one time I sent them a message on MSN.

There many bands from the folk metal era like Rivendell or Falkenbach that simply stopped to put out albums without notice too.
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narsilianshard
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 3:25 pm 
 

Kalaratri wrote:
Vaivatar from Finland put out a really great melodic/symphonic black metal album in 2017 and then disappeared completely. The members chose to remain anonymous and the band doesn't have any social media presence so there's no way to even contact them to find out what happened.

Oh yeah, that album ruled! At least they kept the music available unlike some of these other bands.
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tomcat_ha
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Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 8:05 am
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 4:20 pm 
 

Morn Of Solace wrote:
Intestine Baalism. Three album of top tier melodic death metal (with an healthy OSDM undercurrent) and then total silence as far i know...
A friend of mine is a super fan and wrote at their label few times, and the response was that they were still active. I really hope they pull off a Pharaoh!


they played some shows in europe 2 years ago or so

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hells_unicorn
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 5:02 pm 
 

Another one that recently popped in my head was Odium from Norway, The Sad Realm Of The Stars is possibly the greatest symphonic black metal album of the late 90s, basically takes all the best parts of Limbonic Art's sound and mixes in more of an In The Nightside Eclipse vibe. Their case is a bit different since the band is comprised of people with multiple other projects so they've all been busy, but apart from a single in 2001, they haven't done anything since, despite supposedly reforming a couple years ago.
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Ill-Starred Son
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Joined: Fri Apr 15, 2011 8:10 pm
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 5:18 pm 
 

21stCenturySkippyMan wrote:
Slaughter Lord. An Australian black/thrash band that released some killer demos from 86-87 with great riffs and repeated usage of blast beats and then disbanded some time in the latter year.


Yup, they were good. Their drummer Steve Hughes is now a really funny comedian and sometimes talks about his time with the band on stage.

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Lord_Of_Diamonds
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 5:22 pm 
 

The Human Abstract. A neoclassical metalcore band who dropped off the map around 2012, right after they released their third album, which was a major step up from the pit they sank into on their second album. Not as good as their debut, though.
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Ill-Starred Son
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 5:45 pm 
 

I was actually about to say the Japanese melo-death band Shadow, and then looked them up and hadn't even realized they released a 2nd album back in 2008 which I definitely need to buy or at least download, but still it's been 13 years and it says their status is "on hold".

All I know is that IMO their 1st album is one of the greatest melodic death albums ever written, right up there with In Flames best albums like Colony, Whoracle and Jester Race, At the Gates "Slaughter of the Soul", Dark Tranquility's "The Gallery", both Eucharist albums, Gates of Ishtar's 1st and Amorphis' "Elegy" amongst others.

Nearly a flawless album IMO.

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gabber
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 5:59 pm 
 

From a power metal perspective:

Heavenly and Chinchilla.

They have a lot in common in the context of their 'disappearances'.

Both were putting out albums at lightning speed (yearly or so). Both had updates online that they were working on new material. Both were at the peak of their career. And both have not put anything out for years and years. In fact, I think Chinchilla was 2005 or something.

I still sit in hope. Because both were very good bands with high quality output.
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Endarkening
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Joined: Sat Nov 10, 2018 11:51 pm
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 6:19 pm 
 

Norway's Kvist come to mind. A couple of demos, one brilliant album, then gone. Weakling is another example. Dead As Dreams is a massive album, almost certainly impossible to top. Still, I would've loved to hear more.
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Gravetemplar
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 6:22 pm 
 

Endarkening wrote:
Norway's Kvist come to mind. A couple of demos, one brilliant album, then gone. Weakling is another example. Dead As Dreams is a massive album, almost certainly impossible to top. Still, I would've loved to hear more.

Dispirit is basically the same as Weakling but the album has been so long in the making I'm not so sure anymore there's going to be an album.

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traxan
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2015 6:52 pm
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 6:25 pm 
 

Shadow, from Japan. Brilliant melodeath, a better In Flames than In Flames were. I thought they were done after album 1 in 2001 but came back with a second album in 2008, then poof.

Falchion, from Finland. One very cool, epic album, then gone.

The Kovenant, from Norway. An industrial band notable for having Hellhammer on drums. They have been inactive for what, 15 years?

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Kalaratri
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 6:50 pm 
 

Venenum basically went quiet after releasing Trance of Death and there hasn't been any news from them since then. I think they played a few festivals a couple of years back but that's about it. Considering how highly regarded that debut full length was when it came out (ending up on many year-end lists in 2017) it's a bit of a surprise they haven't done anything since. A few members are in other projects, but none of those bands have released anything in the intervening years either so it can't be that they're busy with them.

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narsilianshard
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 7:10 pm 
 

Venenum played a bunch of shows and fests in 2019. There is no evidence that they have broken up; some bands just don't do social media.
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Wilytank
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 7:33 pm 
 

Master's Hammer quietly split up at the end of 2020. The first real mention of this is in a Czech interview with the band. I was caught unaware when I looked up their MA page and saw "split up". Shame too since they really opened up to the world and did a pretty cool overseas tour off the release of the Fascinator album.
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Endarkening
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 22, 2021 8:17 pm 
 

Thought of another one. Strid from Norway released an amazing little 2 song EP in 1994. The music was depressive black metal before the genre even existed. After that they basically vanished from the face of the earth. Years later a "new" Strid emerged with one original member, and they are listed as active, but I've yet to see any proof.
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LithoJazzoSphere
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 4:17 am 
 

traxan wrote:
The Kovenant, from Norway. An industrial band notable for having Hellhammer on drums. They have been inactive for what, 15 years?


Their better albums though are the early ones which have more of a symphonic/melodic black approach to them. Funny that they had to change their name due to the electronic group Covenant, then added electronics to their own sound, almost a "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" situation. It worked on Animatronic, but the follow-up wasn't as effective.

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snarg
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 4:28 am 
 

I have no idea what happened to Setherial. They were quite active in the late 90's and 2000's but then disappeared without trace and haven't released anything for almost 10 years now. They were one of my favorite Swedish BM bands back in the day.

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~Guest 334273
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 5:05 am 
 

tomcat_ha wrote:
Morn Of Solace wrote:
Intestine Baalism. Three album of top tier melodic death metal (with an healthy OSDM undercurrent) and then total silence as far i know...
A friend of mine is a super fan and wrote at their label few times, and the response was that they were still active. I really hope they pull off a Pharaoh!


they played some shows in europe 2 years ago or so


I wasn't aware of this! If i understood correctly they just randomly popped up in a festival in Tilburg and played seldomly in Japan, it's pretty weird.

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jimbies
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 9:10 am 
 

I bring this up often, but Vaivatar from Finland released that one incredible album "Vanitas" in late 2017, and have been MIA ever since. I still revisit that album every autumn. No one even knows who was behind the project.

Walpyrgus is another one. Released one of my favourite heavy metal album of the decade, and have been silent since 2018. I understand their drummer passed away, and that some of the dudes are involved in Twisted Tower Dire, but Walpyrgus' page here still says active, even though their social media hasn't been updated in years.

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