It is with great sadness that I inform you that Rich Walker is to leave Pagan Altar after the Doom Shall Rise Festival this weekend. Rich has his own reasons for wanting to leave and I do not feel at liberty to disclose them but I’m sure if he wishes to do so he will in the fullness of time.

We would all like to thank him for not only his commitment and playing contribution to the band but for the enormous amount of unseen promotional and organisation work that he unselfishly carried out behind the scenes that we certainly could not have done without him.

I’m sure that the Templars will want to join us in saying thank you to him for all the fantastic work he has carried out with designing and supplying T Shirts, patches etc on this forum and hope that he will continue to keep you all supplied in the future.

We wish him and his family all the luck going and also in whatever project he wishes to embark on, as I’m sure he will make a go of it!

We have not yet decided whether to get in a replacement or to revert back to our original three piece line up and will discuss that at length sometime after DSR.

Our main aim though is to get this damn album out as soon as we can as it has already been too long but that’s the problem with playing live, you tend to do one thing or the other, onwards and upwards!

oh dear.

I think they should stay as a 3 piece because then you can hear the awesome bass and lead guitar better.

I think so as well. As much as I like Rich, being pals for 15+ years, his rhythm did sometimes overpower and dilute the lead work.

Of course, some people didn't agree with me on the Pagan Altar Templars forum. But, the original band played with just Alan on guitar and I think it leads for a cleaner sound, even if it takes away some of the power.

He's a great musician and has done loads for the band, but I am inclined to agree as I've seen them twice with one guitar and I felt it worked really well, Alan's leads are powerful enough on their own, and the bass is nice and active.