Exhorder parted ways with guitarist Marzi Montazeri earlier this year, and hinted that there "may be a face (or faces) that you recognize moving forward, as well as some other surprises." This of course made us guess that maybe Vinnie LaBella or Jay Ceravolo would be back in the band, but instead we got a much bigger surprise.
Exhorder played Maryland Deathfest over the weekend with former Cannibal Corpse guitarist Pat O'Brien filling in Montazeri's spot. O'Brien exited Cannibal Corpse in 2018 after some legal issues and has largely been out of the public eye ever since. It's good to see O'Brien back out there doing his thing, though it's not currently clear if he's a permanent member of Exhorder or was just recruited to play Maryland Deathfest.
As for Maryland Deathfest itself, this year's may have been the last one. Festival organizers recently said "We're sorry to inform you that we will not be organizing any festivals at all in 2023, including Maryland Deathfest. There's a chance that 2022 could be the last edition of MDF, but we're unable to determine that right now one way or another. What we can say now is that we're going on hiatus and we'll decide during this much needed break if the festival will return in 2024. There are many variables at play that will impact the decision to possibly bring it back in 2024, including the state of world and if we have the ability to put other things in our personal lives on hold to give the event the kind of attention it has always needed and received." Read their full statement here.
