Finnish FIREAL has issued the following update on band’s Official Website:

This is your Dark Lord Caleb speaking. Did you know that in 2012 the world as we know it is gonna end? The Nibiru is coming and we’re all going down…to a new era. So Sally, say goodbye to momma and pack yer bags cos Kansas is going bye bye.

So – about our recent decision to take a touring break. It seems the question on people’s mind is “why?” or “what’s happened?”. Concerning the history of Bleak/Fireal, some might think this decision is somehow related to some imaginary drama within the band or so on. Well I am here to put those speculations to rest. There hasn’t been any drama between the band members of Fireal at any point. Period. Everytime we climb on stage together, it’s a joyful reunion – we’re all having fun, enjoying each other’s company and most important, just loving doing this shit. So everything’s just great within Fireal.

Now that we’re clear on that, I’m gonna say few words about Bleak. We had our differences from the beginning – that was unfortunate but understandable when you think about the fact that we were only teenagers when we started. A lot of bands tend to break-up within 10 years, and we managed to stretch it to 12. But that’s how it goes – some people don’t belong in the same band together, that’s the way it’s meant to be. It doesn’t mean the end of the world – it could mean something better for everyone.
About two weeks ago I had the pleasure of hooking up with the original lineup of Bleak in our friend’s wedding (who actually was the first bass player in the band). It was nice talking to the guys like we did back in the day; even though everything has changed, it felt like nothing had really changed at all. We’re still the same people at heart, we were still laughing, joking and -of course- drinking together. Those are the things I want to remember Bleak by – us having fun together. So that was a cool conclusion to everything. Already in 2005, I’d written down a dream where I’d have my own band and the other guys could do what they wanted. Now it seems that dream has come true with all of us. Things tend to work out right in the end, after all 🙂

Back to Fireal. The thing is, even though we haven’t thrown that many shows in the first place, we’ve all invested a lot of time in it. Sometimes other things come up and it’s hard to continue playing gigs – especially when this other stuff takes a lot of your time. Don’t get me wrong, we certainly are not priorising other things over Fireal – but sometimes you have to choose between touring and the stuff that can really help the band in the long run. So that’s what we’re basically doing now – focusing on reaching outside Finland and improving everything concerning Fireal. I know all this is pretty vague, but that’s all I can tell you at the moment. So hang in there! I’m sure it’ll all be worth the wait.

Stay sith, brothers & sisters. The Dark Side prevails.
-The Imperial Forces FIREAL [IFF]-

PS. Even though we could’ve had more shows to play, at least we took the best out of the ones we had. We posted some new gig photos from this summer – you can find them HERE.

Fireal – Breathe