The Red Chord’s Guy Kozowyk to Fill in for The Black Dahlia Murder’s Brian Eschbach at Upcoming Festival Dates

When fans head out to Sonic Temple this weekend and Welcome to Rockville next weekend, they might notice something different about The Black Dahlia Murder. Sure, those two performances will be the band’s first without Brandon Ellis on guitar (more on that in a sec), but they’ll also quickly realize that vocalist Brian Eschbach looks oddly different, too.

That’s because in a post to the band’s Instagram page, the guitarist-turned-frontman announced that he would not be performing at either festival “due to personal circumstances.” In his stead, the band has recruited The Red Chord’s Guy Kozowyk to hold shit down behind the mic.

“I myself unfortunately due to personal circumstances will not be able to perform with the band at these two festivals. And rather than cancel on this opportunity to play with a bunch of great bands, we decided to ask for a little bit of help. So we’re happy to announce that longtime colleague and friend, Guy Kozowyk of The Red Chord will be filling in on vocals.

“We hope those in attendance enjoy these twice in a lifetime mashup events. But don’t worry, I will be back with the band this summer to melt you guys’ faces.”

This news comes weeks after it was revealed that Ellis would no longer be playing guitar with The Black Dahlia Murder.

“I’m grateful for my 9 years spent with this iconic band, and to have had the rare honor of making music with the legendary Trevor Strnad. I’m proud of my contributions to the band’s legacy and of all that we’ve accomplished together.

“Unfortunately, the time has come that I must close this chapter and begin the next.”

In the wake of that shake up, Eschbach said Wes Hauch — who’s played guitar for and appeared on records with bands like Periphery, Austrian Death Machine, Devin Townsend, Polyphia, Enterprise Earth, and a laundry list of others — will be handling guitar duties moving forward.

“Sonic Temple will be our first performance with someone that many of you already know, an amazing guitar player, the one and only Mr. Wes Hauch. We’re stoked to be playing with him and you can expect to see him playing with us for the foreseeable future.”

So there ya have it. If you end up seeing The Black Dahlia Murder live over the next couple weeks, don’t be alarmed. It’s only temporary.