Did Broken Hope Get Vital Remains Kicked Off Immolation’s European Tour? (And is Glen Benton Back in Vital Remains?)

The story is every bit as confusing as that headline makes it sound: apparently Vital Remains have been kicked off Immolation’s upcoming European tour, and they’re blaming Broken Hope for it. Here’s the post from Vital Remains’ Facebook page (screen cap here in case the post gets yanked):

European Tour Cancelled!!!
I would just like to apologize to all the fans that were looking forward to seeing us in in Europe this winter! We just found out that we will not be on the Immolation European tour in Jan 2014 due to the fact that Broken Hope did not want us on the tour! Thanks guys!!! Karma is a bitch!

Wait… what? So much going on here.

First of all, what tour is this? As far as we can tell it hasn’t been announced yet, although I was able to turn up a couple of teases — without dates — such as this one that promises Immolation on tour in Europe in January and February of 2014. Presumably Broken Hope and Vital Remains were the intended support acts for that tour.

But what exactly is the beef between Broken Hope and Vital Remains? It seems likely that there’s some Glen Benton connection here given last week’s drama between Benton/Deicide and Broken Hope, although that’s just conjecture. I could certainly see Broken Hope giving Benton the finger after finding themselves kicked off his tour last week, although I’d be surprised if Broken Hope were billed above Vital Remains and had that kind of sway with the tour as a whole.

So, that begs the question: is Benton set to rejoin Vital Remains? He hasn’t been with the band since 2009, and there’s been nothing in the press recently about him potentially returning to the band. Besides which, Deicide is touring right now. But I guess it’s not out of the question — Benton certainly wouldn’t be the first metal musician to play in more than one band concurrently. That scenario sets up a whole other question, too: what of current Vital Remains vocalist Brian Werner? VR have had like a million vocalists so his dismissal wouldn’t exactly be shocking.

So many questions, no answers. I’m sure we’ll know more soon.

Thanks: Alejandro A.