Over a Billion Served

Pathology’s newest singer, Pascual Romero (Strangled by Strangulation), marks the metal band’s third vocalist this year; Mason Gregory left in early ’09, and Matti Way departed in September, coming after the previous defection of singer-guitarist Levi Fuselier.

“The reality is this,” emails Romero. “One singer needed to move on with his life and work for a living, so he moved back to Texas. The other singer lives in Northern California, and it became very difficult to keep working with the band. He owns his own business and has a lot of responsibilities. It’s not so much that they can’t keep singers; it’s that circumstances were very difficult for the original two singers.… The changing lineup was always a circumstantial thing.”

The band — formed in 2006 by Dave Astor (Cattle Decapitation, the Locust) — recently signed on to produce their fourth album for their fourth label, Victory Records. The announcement at blabbermouth.net was followed by a number of derogatory, expletive-laden comments on the signing, the group, its new singer, and “selling out.”

“Speaking as a person who’s been accused of being a sellout more than once,” says Romero, “I can just say this is pretty typical of any metal band signing a record deal that’s more than a $2000 loan from some guy who distributes from his basement.

“To me, selling out is deciding not to follow your dreams. Sellouts never take risks to fulfill the things that they need to be complete. So, yes, I took advantage of an opportunity to be with a label with worldwide distribution and media access. Yes, we will be on MTV. Yes, you will hear us on satellite radio. Yes, we will grace T-shirts, CDs, DVDs, and whatever other marketing tool we come up with.

“But, before you call me a sellout, you should probably change out of your McDonald’s uniform.”