Avenged Sevenfold part ways with drummer Arin Ilejay

After four years, Avenged Sevenfold have parted ways with drummer Arin Ilejay. Ilejay took over for Mike Portnoy, who took his place behind the kit following the death of founding drummer Jimmy \”The Rev\” Sullivan. Ilejay served as drummer for the band\’s second no. 1 album, Hail To The King and came joined the band during the Nightmare touring cycle. The band has released a statement and, while they haven\’t announced a new drummer it seems like they have one on board for their upcoming album. Below is the statement released by the band today: Hello Everyone – We are writing this to inform you all that we will be moving forward without Arin IIejay as our drummer. Arin has been nothing but a positive energy and monster drummer for us over the past 4 years. We love the guy and always will. We are and will always be grateful to him for helping us to move forward through some very dark times. Creatively though, we felt we needed to move in a different direction. While we can’t say more at this time, we are excited for the future and looking forward to sharing our plans soon with the greatest fans in the world. As always we appreciate your understanding and unwavering support. With Love – Matt, Zack, Brian, Johnny