Geldschlager left the band last year during recording sessions for their fourth album Akroasis, and was replaced in the lineup by Rafael Trujillo. And he says while he and the rest of the band remain close, his name has been dragged through the mud since the split - and lays the blame squarely at the door of Kummerer.

Geldschlager tells London Metal Monthly: "I wouldn't want to view my time in the band as an all-negative experience, even though there was tension between me and Steffen.

"My departure, however, and everything that followed are a complete disgrace to everyone who worked so hard on the album and to the fans who support them.

"I never thought I'd see my name dragged through the mud like that, or have somebody publicly try to plagiarize my work. That's not a great place to be in for sure. But at the end of the day, it doesn't hurt me as much as it hurts the band itself."

He says Kummerer has tried to publicly discredit him by blaming tensions between the pair on the guitarist's "condition" something Geldschlager calls "a new low."