On Wednesday (27), it was announced that guitarist Christian Münzner would be rejoining Obscura. 

“I’m very excited to be back in the band,” said Münzner in a statement: 

“After my departure in 2014, I stayed very active on the scene in various formats, but I needed some time off from the busy touring schedule to take the time and learn to manage my hand issues, regroup my thoughts about my musical future and focus on some other matters that were going on in my life at that time. I’m happy to say I’m back with a vengeance and I feel I have taken my playing to a new level in recent years, and I can’t wait to share with all the Obscura fans what we are working on at the moment.”

He continued:

“During my time away from the band, we remained in touch, and in recent years, I felt my interest in extreme music and the drive to write and play in that style resurfacing, it feels like everything came together at the perfect moment. I think we are having a very strong lineup and I am excited about the future of Obscura.”

Münzner originally joined Obscura in 2008 and released two albums with the band; 2009’s Cosmogenesis and 2011’s Omnivium. He left in 2014 due to “creative differences,” as well as focal dystonia, a neurological condition that gave him spasms in his fretting hand. 

In the intervening years, Münzner formed a new band with fellow former Obscura members Hannes Grossman and Linus Klausenitzer called Alkaloid, releasing their debut album The Malkuth Grimoire in 2015. He also released two albums with German metallers Eternity’s End; 2016’s The Fire Within and 2019’s Unyielding.

Münzner released his third solo album, Path of the Hero, in March 2020.

The announcement of Münzner’s return completes Obscura’s new line-up. Following the departure of guitarist Rafael Trujillo, bassist Linus Klausenitzer and drummer Sebastian Lanser in April, frontman Steffen Kummerer quickly revealed that bassist Jeroen Paul Thesseling would be rejoining the band after nine years away. Two weeks later it was announced that drummer David Diepold would be joining the fold. The reintroduction of both Thesseling and Münzner reunites three-quarters of the band’s Cosmogenesis and Omnivium line-up.

Obscura recently signed to Nuclear Blast Records and is set to begin work on their sixth studio album this summer. The band released their latest album, Diluvium, in 2018.