With just a handful of dates on their ‘Constellations’ world tour left, The Black Gates have had to postpone their final leg in Australia till another time, much to the disappointed hordes of fans who hadn’t seen the band down under since ‘Symbolic Failure’ a few years ago. The reason for this is that uber skinsman Paul Smith damaged his hand quite badly, after tripping in his hotel room and putting his hand through a glass table. Fortunatley for Paul, he did not sever any arteries however there has been a lot of nerve and ligament damage and the early prognosis is that it will be at least six months before he can even tentatively use his wrist again without physiotherapy.

‘It was just bad luck man’ commented Smith, who had recently, in between the world tour, found time do a jazz work out with the Jazz All-Stars. ‘I had just gotten out of the shower and begun dressing when I tripped over my fucking trousers and went through the table and before I knew it, there was blood everywhere. It’s fucking sore and the doctors say it’s going to be some time before I can play again. They did say it was fortunate the damage was not anymore worse than it was or I wouldn’t be playing again’.

Rick Fisher himself commented, ‘He is very lucky, it could have been so much worse. He is bitterly disappointed with what happened, he was looking forward to facing the Aussie crowds. We haven’t decided what to do in the mean time should we need a replacement. The Black Gates may well sit tight until Paul mends. I mean, we have gone solidly on the road for the past few months and having released ‘Equilibrium’ and ‘Constellations’ almost successively so it would be a good time for a break for the band. But not me…’

Rick will be re-uniting grind supergroup PSYCOPATHOLOGIST for another blood splattered platter of crusty death grind nastiness. Derek of Sudan will be joining Rick once again as attention turns to all things about serial killers. ‘This one is going to be old school as usual but with a bit more death mixed with the hyper blasting grind. The fascination on all things gory and blood soaked will continue, this time I’ve been reading about serial killers, its fascinating really. Got a couple of songs done… ‘Possession is 9/10ths of You in My Crawl Space’ which is about John Wayne Gacy and ‘Toole of the Trade’ which is obviously about Ottis Toole. Both are sick and nasty tracks, blast beats and squealing guitars. This one wont take too long but we are looking for anyone who wants to contribute. A love of grind is essential…and not been squeamish helps.’

Rick also added… ‘Very, very shortly, the long awaited fifth album for Sisyphean will be released, called ‘Dues Sol Invictus’ in case you had forgotten. It has a brutal, primitive instrumental vibe which calls upon a multitude of influences from tribal rhythm stylings across the world’