Health Issue Forces Behemoth to Cancel Run on 2013 Mayhem Festival

Bad news for extreme metal fans looking to check out this year's Mayhem Festival: Polish metal kings Behemoth have just announced that they have been forced to vacate their spot on this year's festival bill.

Although this news is heartbreaking for Behemoth fans, the good news is that the band's tour cancellation has nothing to do with frontman Adam 'Nergal' Darski's recent cancer battle. However, Behemoth's abandonment of their Mayhem spot is due to health reasons. Drummer Zbigniew 'Inferno' Prominski is currently recovering from appendix surgery and is physically unable to perform Behemoth's intense set with the proper intensity. Inferno will be taking "a few months" to fully heal from his surgery and get back to 100-percent behind the kit.

Behemoth posted the following statement from Nergal via the band's official Facebook page earlier today (June 5):

This must have been the most difficult decision we were forced to make in recent years. Behemoth is known for not canceling any shows or tours. But this is not something we can do whenwe are missing our driving force, the man behind the drums - Inferno. Unfortunately, he was hospitalized due to appendix surgery and it's gonna take him few months to fully recover and get back to shape. We are trying to save selected European Festivals with a fill in drummer (Krimh,ex-Decapitated), but we won't be risking doing a full-on prestigious tour like the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival without Inferno. Behemoth is a solid unit and any part of this unit missing makes us weaker, and that is not how we want to present our new material to our fans. Please, accept our apologies and be patient, we shall return to Europe (this fall) and US (early 2014) empowered and motivated as never before!

We'd like to wish Inferno a speedy recovery and we hope that Behemoth will be back on the road soon. Stay tuned for updates on Behemoth as news continues to roll in.

In the meantime, Mayhem Festival still features a stellar lineup of Rob Zombie, Five Finger Death Punch, Mastodon, Children of Bodom and several other acts. The trek kicks off June 29 in San Bernardino, Calif.