We’re probably decades and a few book projects away from Pagan Altar‘s complete story being told and the band getting their long-overdue due when it comes to blazing the trail for doom in the NWOBHM era. All they can do in the meantime — and hey, if anyone needs a ghost writer, my rates are reasonable — is keep putting the stuff out there, and by “the stuff” I mean their records. Shadow Kingdom stood behind the last batch of Pagan Altar re/issues, and Temple of Mystery steps forward to do likewise even as the band continues to move forward after the 2015 passing of Terry Jones in their new incarnation fronted by Brendan Radigan of Magic Circle. One has to wonder if a new album with the current lineup could be in the offing, but it doesn’t seem like we’re there yet, if we’ll get there at all. You might recall Temple of Mystery released Pagan Altar‘s heretofore swansong, The Room of Shadows (review here), in 2017.

In the meantime, Judgement of the Dead and Lords of Hypocrisy (discussed here) will be out on Temple of Mystery April 17 and Time Lord (review here) and Mythical and Magical will follow later this year.

Preorder links and whatnot below, courtesy of the PR wire:

TEMPLE OF MYSTERY reissuing PAGAN ALTAR’s entire discography – release dates, preorder links, festival shows announced

In 1976, from the mysterious English countryside, emerged Pagan Altar – a band whose arcane doom rumblings have changed the face of the genre. Despite their infamous debut album, Judgement of the Dead, taking decades to be officially released, their short-yet-bright star finally took off in the mid 2000s when the band unleashed The Time Lord, Lords of Hypocrisy, and Mythical and Magical, ending decades of setbacks and unintentional silence. Today, each record in their discography is fanatically hoarded by fans and damn near impossible to find — unless you are willing to depart with a large chunk of your wallet.

Following the untimely passing of iconic frontman Terry Jones in 2015, it took several years for the band’s final album, The Room of Shadows, to be released. Acclaimed internationally as a befitting swan-song, the album was lovingly issued by Canadian label Temple of Mystery Records. The release catapulted the band back into the limelight, encouraging the label to undertake the task of reissuing their highly sought-after back catalog on vinyl, CD, and cassette tape formats. It also brought the band back to the stage in tribute to their fallen frontman, with Magic Circle’s Brendan Radigan taking up the vocal role with aplomb.

First in the series of reissues are Judgment of the Dead and Lords of Hypocrisy, set for international release on April 17th via Temple of Mystery. Judgment of the Dead features remastered audio, with the vinyl edition including an updated 32-page booklet detailing the early history of the band. A limited edition of 250 copies will be pressed on silver vinyl. Meanwhile, the Lords of Hypocrisy reissue features an original painting by fantasy surrealist Adam Burke, who also created the haunting cover to The Room of Shadows. A limited edition of 250 copies will be available on blue vinyl. The CD editions of both albums will feature exclusive liner notes.

To celebrate the legacy reissues, Pagan Altar will undertake select shows around Europe and North America this summer. These performances will include founding member Alan Jones on lead guitar, Diccon Harper on bass, Andres Arango on rhythm guitar, Andy Green on drums, and Brendan Radigan on vocals. Dates for those shows will be announced in April, to coincide with the official release of the first series of reissues. The vinyl, CD, and cassette versions of Time Lord and Mythical and Magical will be released in the fall of 2019.

The first confirmed festival appearances are after the jump. Respective covers, tracklistings, and preorder links for Judgement of the Dead and Lords of Hypocrisy are as follows:

racklisting for Pagan Altar’s Judgement of the Dead
1. Pagan Altar
2. In the Wake of Armadeus
3. Judgement of the Dead
4. The Black Mass
5. Night Rider
6. The Dance of the Banshee
7. Reincarnation

Originally recorded in 1982 during the NWOBHM movement, Pagan Altar’s debut album, Judgement of the Dead, is a timeless classic of macabre heavy/doom metal centered around magic, witchcraft, and the occult. This holy grail album is one of the purest, most magical records that were ever written, and had a tremendous influence on the heavy/doom metal scene. Gatefold LP version includes a 32-page booklet about the early history of the band, new layout, and remastered songs, and jewelcase CD version includes exclusive liner-notes and remastered songs.

Preorder
Limited silver vinyl: https://www.templeofmystery.ca/shop/paganaltar-jotd-vinyl-silver
Regular black vinyl: https://www.templeofmystery.ca/shop/paganaltar-jotd-vinyl
CD: https://www.templeofmystery.ca/shop/paganaltar-jotd-cd
Cassette: https://www.templeofmystery.ca/shop/paganaltar-jotd-mc

racklisting for Pagan Altar’s Lords of Hypocrisy
1. The Lords of Hypocrisy
2. Satan’s Henchmen
3. Sentinels of Hate
4. Armageddon
5. The Interlude
6. The Aftermath
7. The Masquerade
8. The Devil Came Down to Brockley
9. March of the Dead

Featuring songs written between 1976 and 1983, Pagan Altar’s second album, Lords of Hypocrisy, is a timeless classic of macabre heavy/doom metal centered around man’s inhumanity to man and its ultimate demise. The album’s unique atmosphere is shaped by its dark ’70s heavy rock riffs with a generous NWOBHM touch, haunted vocals, and majestic lead guitar parts. A gem of a record whose mysterious songs inspire total and complete devotion. Gatefold DLP version includes new layout with cover art from artist Adam Burke and remastered songs, and jewelcase CD version includes exclusive liner-notes and remastered songs.

Preorder
Limited blue vinyl: https://www.templeofmystery.ca/shop/paganaltar-loh-lp-blue
Regular black vinyl: https://www.templeofmystery.ca/shop/paganaltar-loh-lp
CD: https://www.templeofmystery.ca/shop/paganaltar-loh-cd
Cassette: https://www.templeofmystery.ca/shop/paganaltar-loh-mc

upcoming European shows
Holy Festival, Neudegg Alm/Austria, 20.–22.06.2019
Muskelrock Festival, Tyrolen/Sweden, 30.05.–01.06.2019

www.paganaltar.co.uk
www.facebook.com/paganaltarofficial
www.paganaltarofficial.bandcamp.com
www.templeofmystery.ca
www.facebook.com/templeofmysteryrecs

Pagan Altar, Live at Old Grave Fest, Oct. 13, 2018

Pagan Altar, Lords of Hypocrisy (2004)

I’ve been thinking of late about heavy rock in the ’80s, and just where the hell it went. By 1975, many of the bands who were slinging riffs a’plenty just four or five years earlier were distant private press memories. Or they went prog. Or they grew into more commercial arena rock. Disco, contrary to what was thought at the time, didn’t kill rock and roll. Heavy metal was quickly taking shape in the mid-’70s and punk was doing the same thing. Certainly the ’80s — and I’m sorry for generalizing an entire decade, but one has to categorize these things somehow or the brain will explode — had no shortage of rock and roll, from L.A. glam to East Coast hardcore and everything in between. There were some bands on the West Coast dipping into psychedelia in the early ’80s for the so-called “paisley underground,” but the hardest-hitting of them didn’t come close to the kind of heft that groups were producing a decade earlier. The heavy, it seems, went in a different direction altogether.

It got darker, turned to the atmosphere of its riffy roots and, as with bands like Pagan Altar, Witchfinder General and many others, established a principal tenet of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal that holds firm throughout many metallic subgenres today: It started taking itself very seriously. Yeah, there were chains, and fire, and sometimes Rob Halford rode in on a motorcycle (by “sometimes,” I mean every show), but if you wanted fluff, go listen to dance music. Heavy metal was serious business.

Not really fair to call this the beginning of doom, since like rock and roll itself, doom is traceable back to the blues in the early 20th century, but it’s a pivotal moment for understanding what we consider doom metal today, and why we consider one record doom and another one not. Pagan Altar‘s Lords of Hypocrisy — recorded between 1982-1984 and left to languish for the next two decades until a 2004 re-recording and release (2013 reissues on Shadow Kingdom and Cruz del Sur) — is a prime example. The vocabulary and the delineation between metal and doom might not have existed the same way it does 30-plus years later, but Lords of Hypocrisy is every bit a doom record in intent as well as execution.

We know names like Trouble, Candlemass, Saint Vitus, The Obsessed, Pentagram and so on, and these are pivotal acts, but divide seems so extreme between the bright, made-up dopey smiles of glam and the no-fun-all-drugs downerism of early doom metal (and, for that matter, thrash, which had just about everything in common with doom except tempo), that I can’t help but think of political party lines being drawn and remaining uncrossed. I wasn’t there — I was four in 1985 and not that cool a kid, sorry — but it seems to me that what would’ve been the middle ground between these polar opposites was solid, engaging, by-then-traditional heavy rock and roll. Where were the new bands, not ’70s holdovers in metal, punk or rock, doing that?

For Pagan Altar‘s part, they remain thoroughly underappreciated, mostly in terms of what they could’ve contributed atmospherically to the NWOBHM at the time had they managed to get a record out. Their debut, Volume 1 was tracked in 1982 and released in 1998, by then following up an impressive self-titled demo released 16 years prior. Lords of Hypocrisy is a prime marriage of elder methods and modern sound that few in the NWOBHM or out of it have managed to capture, completely absent the self-indulgent grandiosity of Iron Maiden or or the strange, half-hearted attempts of many of Pagan Altar‘s contemporaries to recapture something that was lost, its rawness and honesty bleed through the quiet stretches of “Armageddon” as much as the quick, comical “The Devil Came Down to Brockley” — Brockley, UK, being the band’s home — or the building emotionalism of “The Masquerade,” and it’s simply a superior level of output. It’s not as clean or crisp sounding as any number of records by Saxon, but like Witchfinder General, like Venom and others, Pagan Altar were always shooting for a different kind of heavy.

The band, reactivated since 2004, suffered a tragedy last year with the death of founding vocalist Terry Jones. At the time, they were said to have a new album, titled Never Quite Dead, in the mastering stage, but there’s been no word since about whether or not it will ultimately surface posthumous to Jones‘ contributions. His passing was a greater loss than heavy metal realized.

But of course, the work remains, and in the case of Lords of Hypocrisy, it’s amazing how vital this material sounds for having sat around for 20 years. Part of the appeal of doom very often is that it sounds like it’s from another time. In this, as in the best of cases, that seems to make it timeless. Hope you enjoy.

—

Busted laptop. Jury duty. The radio stream down. A full-time job. The goddamned Quarterly Review. A whole pastiche of ongoing medical shit. It’s a good thing The Patient Mrs. wasn’t around for most of this week, because I’ll be completely honest with you, I was a friggin’ wreck. After I finished writing the last of the posts for today last night, I pretty much curled up in the fetal position on the couch, put on Mystery Science Theater 3000 and was about as mentally ready to completely check out as I can remember being in a long, long time. It has been a draining few days and I’m looking forward to a restorative weekend. I hope to sleep until 10AM at least once.

The Patient Mrs. returned last night, incidentally, and today took about five seconds out of her own busy existence to bring mine into order, which was thoroughly appreciated and duly humbling, as I no doubt would’ve continued my caveman flailing until finally clubbing myself in the face and losing consciousness, existentially speaking. I cannot begin to tell you how fortunate I am to have her in my life.

I’m also heaving a sigh of relief today because jury duty didn’t result in me being picked for anything. Basically I gave up a morning and an early part of an afternoon to the cause of being called up to a judge’s sidebar and telling him that I don’t believe in human impartiality. Might’ve been worth it if I’d had been able to bring a functioning laptop with me to dick around on during the mind-numbing stretches of waiting in the jury pool. “Would you differently consider the testimony of a policeman rather than that of a civilian?” Uh, yes. Because I’m not an idiot. “Is there any reason you would be unable to judge this case impartially?” Yes, because there’s no such thing as impartiality. I was amazed to be the only person raising my hand.

Anyway, it’s over, and unlike the last two, three, however many weeks it’s been, the furthest I’m traveling this weekend is maybe to Boston, which is about an hour, so I’m stoked for what I hope will be some mental resource-gathering and getting my head together.

Monday, look out for a track premiere from Thermic Boogie. Also next week, reviews of Witchcraft, Matus and hopefully Terraplane. I gotta look at my notes when I get back to my once-again-functioning laptop that The Patient Mrs. had repaired this afternoon while I was at work, but there’s probably more I can’t think of, in addition to the news, on which I’m also already and perpetually behind. Hey, I put up 50 reviews this week. I’m doing the best I can.

As I know we all are. Please, have a great and tremendous and not-at-all-injurious weekend, and please, check out the forum and the radio stream.

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