Chris Kontos quits Forbidden | What we know

Chris Kontos has left Forbidden, effective immediately. He announced it himself on social media on Wednesday 4 November.

It comes a fortnight after the Bay Area thrash band put out their first album in 16 years, and while their US tour is still on the road. The band say they found out the same way everyone else did.

Here is what each side has said.

What has Chris Kontos said?

In his post, Kontos said he was “stepping down as the drummer for Forbidden effective immediately”.

His reasons, as reported by Blabbermouth and others, were money and how the band is run. He cited financial concerns, a lack of transparency about the band’s accounting and disagreements over business decisions.

Kontos says he raised those concerns with the other members, management, legal representatives and the people handling the accounts, and that the issues had become “irreconcilable”. He thanked the band’s label, BLKIIBLK, asked for privacy and said he would make no further comment.

To be clear, these are Kontos’s claims. None of them has been tested in public, and the band have not set out their side of the money question.

What have Forbidden said?

The remaining members said they learned of his exit through his public post, at the same time as fans.

Their statement, as reported, wished him well and credited him as an integral part of making the new record. It does not address his financial claims directly. If the band publish a fuller response, we will add it here.

Bassist Matt Camacho, who is also off the current tour, commented warmly on Kontos’s post. Nobody has said anything to suggest he is leaving too.

Is the tour affected?

On stage, no. Kontos wasn’t playing it anyway.

In September, Forbidden announced that Kontos and Camacho would both sit out the fall US run for personal reasons. Guitarist Craig Locicero put it more bluntly: they had “real-life s*** to deal with”. Both were expected back in 2027.

Eli Lucas is covering on drums and Avery Thurman on bass. The Chaos By Design tour, with Heathen and Void, started in Las Vegas on 23 October and runs to Los Angeles on 22 November. No dates have been cancelled.

What has changed is the long term. The drum stool Kontos was meant to come back to is now empty, and the band have not said who will fill it permanently.

Kontos and Forbidden

Kontos joined the reactivated Forbidden in April 2023, alongside Locicero, Camacho, guitarist Steve Smyth and singer Norman Skinner. That lineup made its live debut at Belgium’s Alcatraz festival that summer. It was actually his second spell, as he had also filled in for the band’s 2008 European tour.

Most metal fans know him from somewhere else first. He was the original drummer in Machine Head and played on their 1994 debut Burn My Eyes.

The new album, simply titled Forbidden, came out on 23 October on BLKIIBLK. Kontos played on it, so his last record with the band will be its comeback record.

Final thoughts

A band leaving out its drummer for a tour is common. A drummer quitting over finances during that tour, and the band finding out from social media, is not.

For now it is one side’s account and a short reply. We’ll update this if either side says more. In the meantime, our metal drummers hub has the rest of the genre’s news, and our Bill Ward feature covers another metal drummer whose split with his band came down to business.