Dear Corelia Fans,

We hate to break it to you, but it’s time to accept that this band took your money and are never, ever going to give you anything for it in return.

To review: in January of 2015, this promising up-and-coming prog metal band launched an Indiegogo campaign to crowdfund their eagerly-anticipated full-length debut, which they promised would be a ninety-minute, double-disc release that was allegedly already completely written. Fans ultimately donated upwards of $33,000 to group’s campaign — more than twice their original goal of $15,000.

But when we last checked in with Corelia, in October of last year, contributors had yet to receive the album, or any of the customary gifts awarded to crowdfunders; the situation was sufficiently dire, in fact, that Outerloop Management (Periphery, Darkest Hour, Toothgrinder, etc.), had stopped working with the band. When MetalSucks reached out to Corelia directly to find out what the heck was going on, they assured us that “The accusation that we’re scamming anyone in general is just not true.”

Well, here we are, eight months later, and guess what? Contributors still have yet to receive anything in exchange for their money. The band has not updated their Facebook page since October, when our story basically forced them to offer fans an update. And since MetalSucks still get requests via Facebook and e-mail to investigate on a regular basis, we decided to hit up the band again and ask for an update.

That was on June 13, and as of today, the band has not responded to our request for a comment.

So, like we said: time to give up on this one. The band clearly has no intention of delivering anything.

So can fans who gave to the cause expect their money back? Of course not! What do you think, there’s justice in this world or something? Ever pick up a newspaper?

See, Indiegogo’s terms of use basically absolves them of any legal responsibilities for campaigns run on their platform. S0 fans would have to hire a lawyer and take Corelia to court if they wanted to get their money back, which isn’t gonna happen, because who the hell is gonna pay a lawyer some exorbitant fee to get back, at most, $600 (the highest possible donation for this campaign)? Nobody, that’s who.

So if you gave money to this band, we’re sorry to say it, but that money is gone, and it ain’t never coming back. Which definitely sucks. But if it’s any consolation, this band’s career is over, and I wouldn’t count on its members popping up in other successful projects — an association with Corelia will hang over their heads like a dark cloud as long as they attempt to remain in metal. They made their bed, now they have to sleep in it.