The lead singer of finnish metal band Kiuas, Ilja Jalkanen, has left the band. Kiuas have issued the following statement:

“We have some startling news: our lead singer Ilja Jalkanen has decided to leave the band after some serious thinking. The reasons for this are purely musical and the chemistry within the band has always been great. In Ilja’s own words: “My heart is not in heavy metal anymore, and a great band like Kiuas deserves a singer completely dedicated to the music.”

“However, as all the fans know, although Ilja has been the voice of Kiuas for many years, his contribution to the songwriting has been very minimal and thus his departure won’t affect the bands musical direction or diminish the power of the music in the future in any way. The fact is that Kiuas will be able to continue it’s musical journey with passion only without Ilja – this is the only way to go.

“Unfortunately Ilja won’t be able to perform the gigs we have booked for October 29th-31st. We we’re on the verge of cancelling them, but luckily we were able to get talented vocalist Asim Searah to stand in for Ilja on those gigs. We apologize for announcing this so late, but we had agreed with the local promoters to do the UK tour before we announced Ilja leaving the band.

“We also have some good news: Ilja will still perform a farewell gig with Kiuas in Helsinki in January 2011. The exact date and venue will be announced later.”

Source: http://www.kiuas.net/ – photo by Veli-Veikko Elomaa