Salem, which formed from the remanents of As Friends Rust in 2002 after the departure of vocalist Damien Moyal, has called it a day. The band posted a statement on their website:
Not for the usual reasons of "musical differences" or whatever bands usually say when they break up though. Instead, we have come to the realization that the material we are writing now is so different musically that we are longer that band anymore.In light of this, we have decided to take some time and fully explore ourselves and our music and start a new project, out of respect for the people that made Salem what it was.
The band released the Love It Or Leave Me EP on Fiddler in 2003.