Proscriptor McGovern is the moniker under which Texan drummer Russ Givens operated in US black metal band Absu.



He was introduced on Absu's 1993 "Barathrum: V.I.T.R.I.O.L.". Givens decided to leave the band in order to join Israelean black metal band Melechesh. Remarkably, all band members had moved to The Netherlands at that time and they still live there.



As Givens was unable to join the band for several gigs in Israel and France in May 2004, he was temporarily replaced by Yuri Rinkel (Liar of Golgotha, Thanatos).



In an interview on extremetexasmetal.com Givens reacts on the rumours that Slayer thought he was too "weird", but as far as his playing, he was in. Givens indeed auditioned in 2002. With only three days notification to rehearse 11 Slayer songs, the drummer was asked to be video taped performing these tracks simultaneously with the original Slayer music. Givens/Proscriptor:

"Yes, I truly auditioned for Slayer and made the top 5 drummers to try out; actually I came in 3rd place. [Derek] Roddy (Hate Enternal) and [Kevin] Talley (Misery Index) supposedly came ahead of me, but I really did not care at the time. My main objective was to record on one Slayer album only and then resign. Kerry King once said in an interview, after the try-out, that I played extremely too hard, too fast and I completely cracked two of the cymbals, which utterly did not impress him."

As his musical influeces, Given names: Robert Wyatt (Soft Machine), William Bruford (Yes, King Crimson, Genesis), David Lombardo (Slayer), William Cobham (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Dreams), Lenny White (Return To Forever), Terry Bozzio (Frank Zappa, Missing Persons, UK, Black Light Syndrome), Simon Phillips (Jeff Beck, Judas Priest's "Sin After Sin" LP, 801), Jeff White (Merciless Onslaught, Havoc, Guf, Solo Artist), Igor Cavalera (Sepultura's "Morbid Visions" LP ONLY - not even "Schizophrenia" or afterwards!), John Marshall (Soft Machine), Phillip Collins (Genesis, Brand X, Solo Artist), Rick Colaluca (Watchtower), Friso Van Wijck (Polluted Inheritance), Gylve N. Amarillo (Dark Throne), and Hellhammer (Mayhem).