Marduk share explanation of obscene gesture, announce fill-in bassist Simon Wizén of Valkyrja

Last week Marduk bassist Joel Lindholm was performing on stage in London when he tossed up the Nazi salute. Promptly, the band and Lindholm parted ways and Magnus Andersson aka Devo stepped in to take over the "vacated" role.

Today the band has announced that Valkyrja's Simon Wizén will take over on bass for their upcoming performance at Thronefest, while Andersson will return shortly after to play most of the remaining festival appearances. 

Also in the same post Marduk finally addressed the incident that transpired last week:

Slight change of plans: Simon Wizén (Valkyrja) is handling bass for us at Thronefest this coming weekend. Devo will likely play the remaining festival shows, except for Brutal Assault.

The recent developments have sparked mixed opinions, which is fair enough. Nevertheless, it bears mentioning that Joel's escapades in London were the culmination of a string of questionable behaviour.

Despite repeated promises to respect the alcohol ban he received shortly after joining the band, Joel made multiple attempts to circumvent this by drinking covertly. Famously, Incineration Fest being the most recent example.

We were unaware of his various provocations between songs - as well as the concluding striptease - until that video surfaced the morning of Steelfest. Watching the first ten minutes was quite enough for everyone involved to conclude that Joel's time with Marduk had come to an end.

#herewegoagain