On Tuesday (August 26th), Cradle of Filth guitarist Marek “Ashok” Šmerda announced he would quit the band after its current Latin American tour, following the exit of his wife, keyboardist/backing singer Zoë M. Federoff, who parted ways with the extreme metal act in the midst of the outing. Just hours later, Ashok was fired by frontman Dani Filth “effective immediately.”

Šmerda cited “low pay,” “stress,” and “unprofessional behavior” as a few of the reasons for his impending exit in an open letter, while also criticizing Cradle of Filth’s as-yet-unreleased collaboration with pop star Ed Sheeran as “foolish clown antics.”

That apparently didn’t sit well with Dani Filth, who later in the day shared the following news of Ashok’s firing:

“It is with a grave heart that Cradle Of Filth

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