Am I the only person annoyed by this? Astrakhan just released a new album (it's killer BTW), but then I see on Facebook they're calling it quits. What the hell is the point? They're giving the album away for free and doing one live show and then calling it quits. Seems like such a waste of time for everyone involved. This band isn't the only one guilty of this, but man is it annoying.

Nothing wrong with it. Artists aren't obligated by anyone to do anything. They just create and release their works upon the world if they choose, and for many people this is all that matters. I'm sure that it might be considered a waste of time if they wanted to capitalize on their work and generate some sort of income, but that isn't a goal for many people. I don't really see why you would be annoyed by that, honestly. Just being grateful that you were given something that didn't exist before, is my attitude towards this situation. Many of my favorite bands only released a single album, and my life is enriched further because they chose to do so.

As stated, it's a killer album which leads to eventually wanting to hear more from them down the road. Maybe I'd like to hear it live, but now I can't because they quit. Maybe I look at it more realistically than you. Look at all of the time and money invested into something to not get any return on it. Seems like a waste to me regardless , but I guess I'm different.

There's nothing unrealistic about my perspective. I've been in every single situation imaginable when it comes to the artist -> consumer dynamic. I've made albums just to release because it's something I wanted to do and it was fulfilling to create, no wasted time there at all because the objective was achieved. I've done projects that I've tried to capitalize on. And finally, simply as a fan, I enjoy plenty of bands who have done exactly what you're describing. It's like being annoyed that you were not born a billionaire, it's futile. Yeah, I'm sure we'd all love to be rich, but that's just life.

Sometimes the magic isn't there anymore. You finish what you've written, give what you have left to the fans and let it rest instead of dragging it round like a corpse. I like it when bands tie up their loose ends personally.

If it's the mutual choice of the band members not to continue, I doubt they see it as wasted.

I can respect this, but in the case i mentioned in my OP, there was no warning that I'm aware of. It's their choice at the end of the day. I know the industry is not what it once was and it's harder to make a living playing music than it once was. Maybe I'd like a big of a warning than hey, here's are new album, on we're quitting now too.

What sort of difference would a warning make? Some sort of psychological cushioning to accept the reality of the breakup, or something else entirely I'm missing?

I get the artist point of view and I'm sure they don't feel they wasted any time of money. As a fan however, it does seem like a waste considering they're not going to support it so why bother? I guess I'll just enjoy it until I get tired of it at this point, but I do find it a bit annoying.

I think I understand you better. You're one of those fans that likes to be invested in their favorite bands' careers. You probably buy a lot of merch and go to a ton of shows, am I right? Do you listen to a lot of music from artists or bands who are already broken up or maybe dead? Or do you mostly listen to bands that you can currently see live, and engage with? I'm just asking because I'm personally interested in this kind of stuff.

I listen to active, dead, and broke up bands. I don't go to a ton a shows, but I enjoy the music. I've been listening to metal for 30 years so I've experienced a lot of bands break up. It's more upsetting when I really enjoy the band is all. I'll be ok as this is not the first time this has happened, but I just find this particular one annoying due to the way it was done is all. I get what you've said, I just feel differently about it compared to you.

It's fine, I'm just trying to piece together the reasoning. I have a real interest in the psychology behind this kind of thing. It seemed initially that you were upset because you might wanted to have seen them live, but then you said you don't go to a ton of shows. So I'm just guessing this was mostly because you really liked the band. I completely get it, it does suck when your favorites break up. I guess I am just trying to advocate more of a perspective of acceptance, because there's endless factors at play here. Humans deal with a lot and artists are already putting a ton of energy into their work on top of day to day stresses. Sometimes life can have a way of steering you off course.

I get your side, but I think you're too emotionally wrapped up in the band as a fan to think about this objectively. Totally fine man, when bands I like break up, it fucking kills. Give it some time man, you'll feel better about it all.

I never said it was my favorite band, nor am I emotionally involved with them. I merely used this band as an example and said why I felt what they were doing was annoying and a waste of time. Some of you read way too deep into this. I chalk this up to I'm the only person that's annoyed by this and leave it at that.

It's almost the same as complaining about that Harper Lee only wrote one book, To Kill a Mockingbird, and aslo completely wasted everyone's time by doing so.

Thanks for your two cents.

It was probably their intentions since the album started. They wanted to create something, did, want a final show, and then wrap it up. What's so bad about that?

Vektor relatively recently did the same thing with Terminal Redux.

For some bands, it could be a case of making the album was a huge struggle, whether it was label problems, financial problems, personnel problems, or what have you. But they could be enormously proud of what they were working on and want to finish and release it as a personal achievement, and/or so it's out there for anyone who wants to hear it, even if it's not promoted that well due to the break up of the band. But the struggles that went into making/finishing the album could've been so great that it made them not want to be in the band anymore/not be in the music business anymore. A couple bands I'm pretty sure this was the case for were Cirith Ungol and Minotauri.

Cathedral was for a different case, of which the reason I do not know. Then again, I don't know if they toured/played live shows for The Last Spire, either.

Nah, they never toured for The Last Spire. Gaz and Lee were sick of the band and each other. They broke it off before they started outright hating each other.

Maybe the band's decision had nothing to do with money, nothing to do with making a living, nothing to do with supporting their album and nothing to do with you. They just decided they were done. They are proud of their album and want the fans to have it as a gift as they ride off to other things.

To put it in the most sentimental terms as a musician, most bands in that situation often release an album to either get it out of their system and put it behind them or they just want a memento for their experience. It's better to split after finishing an album that it is to split before finishing an album. Speaking from personal experience, unfulfilled music haunts you for the rest of your life.

Releasing a new album and then breaking up is EXACTLY what a band should do, if they have unsolvable internal problems.

It is extremely selfish and irresponsible to quit a band while in the studio, as bands have usually been working together writing and rehearsing the material for the album for a year or more before that. Quitting in the studio is sabotaging the effort of the whole band. The respectful thing to do, even if you want out, is to finish your current obligation (album or set of lined-up shows) and then part ways. This has happened to me and I'll never put up with it again. Don't hire anyone for your band who's ever done this to someone else! It's better to do without than be counting on someone so pathetic.

It's better for a band to release the album and then break up rather than break up and leave their fans without the final release.

That being the reason for Cathedral's split doesn't make sense to me, as, according to MA, Gaz and Lee have both been in Septic Tank since 2012 and are both still in it. https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Septic_Tank/3540364126

This. I ended up firing my band's founding drummer shortly after we completed our first album and he was refusing to play the album release show before parting ways. I basically had to remind him that he more or less owed me after living in my house for nearly two years and me driving him to the hospital on at least three different occasions, one of which got us blacklisted from a venue for a couple years. I understood where he was coming from in a way but being able to disassociate yourself so quickly from something that you put so much work into is just sickening to me.

As for Cathedral, I imagine there were some personal issues but it seemed to come down to the band feeling like they had done all they could do with their sound and wanting to bow out before getting stale. I know they nearly disbanded between The Garden of Unearthly Delights and The Guessing Game so I'd be quite curious to see what was going on in that time. I know Dorrian once mentioned recording a traditional doom album at the time which had been abandoned, which just makes me wonder how much of that material was used for The Last Spire.

Indeed. I think having that last album to leave as a statement of their work is fine accomplishment to go out on, rather than leaving it hanging and unfinished. They probably just wanted the album to be done for themselves, so they could hear it, and giving it away free to anyone who wants it is just a bonus.

You probably never invested in anything, ever.

What the hell does that mean?

When artists finish their art, they seldom see the time spent creating it as "wasted". They obviously valued their creation over the money they may have spent creating it. That's their call, not anyone else's.

This made you one of my favourite people in the world! Just saying, I'm completely sharing your views.

I know they're recording an album now, but besides one gig around the time they reformed, have Septic Tank done anything in five years? Gaz seems busier with Death Penalty, and Lee is certainly doing fine with With the Dead.

They are still technically a thing until Dave says otherwise and he has hinted that they have a new lineup, but they will NEVER recover the momentum that they lost and I very highly doubt that he's going to be able to keep a stable lineup for any length of time. He should have just preserved his dignity and called it a day when the mass exodus happened, but there are a lot of things that Dave should have done that he didn't do.

I'm not gonna speak for the band in question, but I've played on over 10 albums and some of them were so stressful, frustrating or straight up agonizing to work on that the band was left completely shattered and devoid of passion or even friendship by the end of it all.

How long did At The Gates go between releasing SotS and breaking up?

Sounds about right. I doubt committed musicians who can play like that, are willing to tour, and will work for peanuts don't grow on trees.