Obscura and accusations of plagiarism

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   German prog/tech death metallers Obscura drop their latest album A Sonication today but band leader Steffen Kummerer has over recent weeks faced accusations of having used material previously submitted for consideration by now former band members that, upon their withdrawals from the band, they were assured would not be used. But now those former band members - Alex Weber and Christian Münzner - have stated that this is the case.
Weber made a statement:

 I was REALLY hoping it wouldn't come to this… I'm not one to create drama and stir the pot unnecessarily but I'm sad to hear that the new Obscura tune contains melodies that I wrote and melodies that I did not give Steffen permission to use. Before we all left the band we got written confirmation that the material we contributed to the record would not be used but this video shows clearly that my melody was used note for note.
It would have been one thing if I was credited for this or had given him written permission to use it, but that was not the case. It's not about money or even being that attached to the melody, it's a matter of principle and intellectual property theft.

I know because of deadlines, that Steffen was in a tough position when we all left the band but now i'm concerned that more of the music that Chris and I wrote for this album will still be used without our consent.

I'm always more for going the compassionate route but I don't appreciate how this situation has been dealt with. It's NOT ok to use someone else's music regardless of how much or how little was used, especially without credit.

As did Weber's Exist bandmate Max Phelps:

 “I have never wanted to make a post like this, but I’ve got to back up my brother on it…the new Obscura song is stolen.
“Alex brought the parts in question to the table a while ago and we had currently been working them into an Exist arrangement, so I’m personally very familiar with them. I would even argue that Alex undermined the extent of the plagiarism in his wording…it goes beyond the melody to the rhythmic ideas and development whenever that melody occurs. It’s not just the bassline, it’s the guitars and drum line as well.

“Here are the parts that are plagiarized.

0:00 – 1:15
2:14 – 2:34
4:49 – 5:35

“That’s 2.5 minutes of a 5.5 minute song.

“These were not Steffen’s to use and now he’s trying to blow Alex off by claiming that he ‘changed them dramatically’. He didn’t…it’s not even remotely subjective and there are copyright violations all the time over musical ideas that are far bigger stretches.

“I do want to clarify that Steffen has been a good friend of mine for years and has done a lot of solids for Alex, myself and Exist including taking us on tour even when our band really didn’t have much traction. Neither of us take this for granted, which unfortunately makes this even more of a heel turn and a huge disappointment.

“If Alex still wants to use the riffs then we still will use them and there’s nothing Steffen can do because they are legally not his or his record label’s intellectual property.

“On a side note, Robin Zielhorst is awesome and I feel bad if he and the other new dudes are getting tangled in this.”

Christian has also made comments:

 “I just heard more of the new Obscura. There are riffs I had written and was guaranteed would not be used, and they are being used 1:1, note for note, stolen, copied, as well as entire song structures. Mr. Tech Death Genius strikes again I would say. If Nuclear Blast releases this they are thiefs [sic] as well. I will not let this slide and explore every legal avanue [sic]. There are limits to how much shit we should tolerate. These songs were intended for a solo EP I was planning to do after the Obscura split, now I can not do this anymore. This can not go on. Especially if we ‘agree to disagree’ because of creative differences and then you use other peoples work, after you say we are not on the same page what we want musically?

Steffen Kummerer has responded:

 “Oh, I think there’s a lot of frustration involved in this story. There’s a lot of unnecessary public slander going on right now. That’s all I have to say. If I have a problem with someone, I pick up the phone and go and deal with it directly with them, I’m not going to go on my social media and start a ‘witch hunt’. I think their intention was a little different, they didn’t want to solve the ‘problems’. I find that very sad, because I worked with those guys for a long time, and we ended up on a relatively good note.
I sent the entire album, the final product, right away for them to listen to; I have nothing to hide. Now I’m having to deal with someone putting the entire campaign for the new album on hold, which is very sad, but there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s already happened, people have already formed their opinions, no one wants to hear the other side of things anymore, they don’t want my opinion. I’ll deal with it, I’ll resolve it, but it won’t be very nice for them, that’s all I can say.

It’s sad because it’s so unnecessary. Nowadays, if you point things out like that in public, it doesn’t look good for the person pointing it out, it’s not a very mature approach. In the end, everyone loses. I’m not going to speak out, there’s not going to be an official statement. I’ll talk to people directly if it’s really a problem, but so far, no one has come to me to try to solve it directly, and that’s the good thing. Again, I think there’s a lot of frustration involved in all this, and I’m going to deal with it, but on my own terms, not publicly.”

I don't really know who to believe over this but there is supposedly some video evidence from the Exist guys (which I've not seen) which details what's been stolen from them. 

Obscura was among the first death metal acts I really got into. Not enough to follow them closely - I only ever bought three of their albums to date although I was always interested in adding more to my collection - but Omnivium was one of the first death metal records I bought. 

The band has never been known for having a stable line-up and the suggestion that Steffen Kummerer is difficult to work with has been made before. But this seems next level shitty if true. 

I've heard the album. It's okay. They've done far better ones before. Maybe my opinion of it is being coloured by these accusations. It's getting rating bombed on RYM which started even before release. 