Mondays: we all know they’re a bit shit. And today’s even shitter, as we found out that Scott ‘Malefic’ Connor, the basement black metaller whom most people know from his work as Xasthur, has confirmed he’s ending the “band”. Bah.

In a statement over on xasthurnews.blogspot.com, the moody American had the following to say:

“This album, “Portal of Sorrow”, is the last Xasthur album, period. The honorable thing to do is to end the band and not hang around too long, like so many metal/black metal bands do. Enough is enough, right?

“I’m not able to make it work anymore. I don’t want to turn into one of those bands who rely on too many guests and session musicians to make people interested in their music again. Some help is fine but more than some help is very cheap and it becomes others, not the roots of the band that makes the difference and the music work. I don’t want to fall into that pattern.”

Woah there, treacle! Is that a carefully crafted dig at some of your contemporaries? Good work in not naming anyone in particular: after all, that way you can maximise how badass you sound to your followers, without actually having to step on anyone’s toes at all. Anyway, he continues:

“The motivation and inspiration used to be there full time and now it’s not there at all, not for doing Xasthur at least. It is a roll or persona that I have simply outgrown. I’ve been saying I’m sick and tired of it all for too long… and now, I’m going to back it up. There are or have been literally 18,000 black metal bands; it does not matter if there’s one less.

“However, I wanted to end on a better note with this Portal of Sorrow album because the album that came before it, All reflections drained, was not up to par and I couldn’t finish up with an album that I was less than satisfied with. Now, I suppose any or all goals have been reached and there is nothing more I wish to try with Xasthur and it’s time to move on…”

And guess what? “Moving on” translates as “ditching metal in its entirety”. Now, we’re not ones to bitch about bands not being ”tr00″ or any bollocks like that, but when someone turns their back on metal altogether, well, let’s just say it’s a little harder to swallow:

“There’s no use in trying to reinvent black metal or turn it upside down, it’s all been done and in the end, it’s still metal and will remain within those circles, stereotypes and boundaries no matter what. Overall, I need a bigger change in my life and with music than just trying to change metal.

Believe me when I say this decision has been well thought out for months and doesn’t come out of frustration. Something I usually hate is comebacks, reunions or reformations of bands. You can be rest assured (for even relieved) that this will not happen.”

“I would ask you to stay tuned for my next project and give it a plug but there’s no need to. It’s probably of no interest to you and again, it has nothing to do with metal and I’m not trying to keep any connection or ties to it. I will not name influences, genres or anything of the sort.”

Still, he showed that there was some spite in the old dog yet, with this charming little middle-finger sign-off to he detractors – though he once again backed away from having the balls to actually give anyone’s name:

“I would like to say fuck you to so many people it’s not even funny, but that would be just another way of not washing my hands and hanging around, so I won’t bother. Instead, I would like to say thank you to a handful of people who took an interest in the music over the years and had the patience to (slowly but surely) watch it grow and develop. I’m more grateful than you think; you know who you are and I know who you are.”

He does at least confirm that Disharmonic Variations, the label he created to put out Portal of Sorrow, will continue in some form, but he won’t say what yet. That’s…something, we guess?