Disillusion announced on social media on the morning of 2 October that guitarist Ben Haugg and keyboard player Frederic Ruckert are leaving the band with immediate effect. Haugg had been in the band for ten years, Ruckert for eight.
metal.de reports that the band published a long statement on the departure, carrying both appreciation and reflection, and that it includes a statement from Haugg and Ruckert themselves. The band said all upcoming live shows will take place as planned. No replacements were named.
That schedule matters, because the next dates are not far off. Disillusion are booked as support on Die Apokalyptischen Reiter's Schrei!Nachten run across Germany between 26 and 30 December, five shows from Jena to Cologne.
The band formed in 1994 in Zwickau and are now based in Leipzig. Their four studio albums are Back to Times of Splendor in 2004, Gloria in 2006, The Liberation in 2019 and Ayam in 2022, the later two through Prophecy Productions. Andy Schmidt has been there since the start, Martin Schulz has played drums since 2019 and Robby Kranz has played bass since 2020.