Alright, so I was out of the office this afternoon at a meeting, and I walk out and check my e-mail on my phone to find like a thousand e-mails from readers pointing us towards this post on The PRP, in which drummer Andols Herrick announces his departure from Chimaira.

Here are some excerpts from Herrick’s statement:

“Since Chris [Spicuzza, who announced his departure from the band last week] released his statement recently, I suppose its time that I do so as well since I have been dodging questions and comments for almost as long. I am no longer a member of Chimaira, and actually haven’t been since before Christmas. I did play at Chimaira Christmas 11, which was my last show. I certainly couldn’t have asked for a better and more memorable way to go out.

“I cannot stress enough how significantly different the circumstances are now than back in 2004. The short story is that the guys had taken issue with certain aspects of my role in the band. Nothing discussed was out of anger or anything personal, but I was definitely not expecting it and it was quite the spirit crusher for me. The decision was made that it would be in the band’s best interest to move forward without me.

“I was obviously devastated, but again there was no ill will between us. Later, I was asked to rejoin, but after some painful contemplation in my mind, I decided it was best not to. I started to see everything that happened as something that was ultimately positive. I share some of the same concerns that Chris mentioned in his statement, namely the current state of the music industry and concerns about my future.”

So as Herrick mentions, he’s already left the band once before; but he’s also the third member to part with Chimaira just since November — aside from the aforementioned split with keyboardist/programmer/hype man Spicuzza, bassist Jim LaMarca left the band late last year. Which basically means that the new Chimaira album will have a 50% different line-up than 2009′s The Infection did.

And yet I’m not especially worried about the ongoing quality of Chimaira’s music — in fact, as long as vocalist Mark Hunter and lead guitarist Rob Arnold are still in the band, I’d reckon everything is gonna be a-okay. (And I say that with all due respect to the other remaining member of the band, guitarist Matt DeVries.) Since Herrick says he doesn’t play on the new album, though, I am super curious as to who it was playing drums on those snippets of new music we heard earlier this month.

I’m also, of course, curious as to who the new drummer will be. Arnold and DeVries have been playing in Six Feet Under with Kevin Talley, who took Herrick’s place when he left the band the first time; is it possible that he’ll soon be making a return…?

Speculate recklessly in the comments section.

-AR