Pagan Altar. What a band with a history right back to the early 1970s though of course best known for their work spanning the original New Wave of British Heavy Metal days of the late 1970s/1980s and their distinctive heavy/dark/doomy style.
Here with the Story of Pagan Altar we have an interesting retrospective comprising of a number of rehearsals and demos covering the years 1976 through to 2007 many (if not all) never being heard before.
A fascinating listen indeed – the authenticity added to by the rawness of the recordings. Indeed – the liner notes for each song attest to this.
Take the first two tracks – Narcissus Complex and Going Nowhere from 1976 when the band were still known as Liquid Gas. Both rehearsals recorded “by putting a very small tape recorder in the middle of our back room and hoping for the best”. Does it get any more basic than that?
Both songs are excellent though. Punchy, straight ahead, catchy rockers with chunky riffs and a sign of what would follow over the years. More of that comes on another rehearsal – Hydra – this time with the band called Hydra.
Next with another name change – this time to the classic Pagan Altar – that glorious heavy as you like dark doomy stuff comes out with the monstrous quartet of Armadeus, The Black Mass, The Witches Pathway and The Aftermath. All rehearsals, all raw, all gloriously NWOBHM.
Crunchingly heavy guitar, mazy frantic shredding over the thudding drum and bass backbeat and the vocals. Atmospheric and slightly frightening even such as the power. Somewhere between period Black Sabbath and Budgie. Check out Black Mass.
Not standing still, Pagan Altar would then flirt with another name change – to Malac’s Cross in the 1990s and we have here a couple of fine demos in Moving’ On and Reincarnation. The name change brought a change in style with a more straight ahead rock feel and some decidedly progressive stuff coming in. Both are quite catchy too without losing the power behind them.
Then it’s back to Pagan Altar in 2007 for the closing couple. The excellent Walking in the Park single and a reworked version of Narcissus Complex which is nicely done given a fresh feel from the Liquid Gas version on track one.
Pagan Altar, whilst arguably at their peak back in the NWOBHM days certainly, made their mark. This retrospective adds to the history of the band in a very nice way with it being based around rehearsals and demos not seeing the light of day before.
If you’re an old New Wave of British Heavy Metal survivor like me or enjoy your dark, doomy stuff – The Story of Pagan Altar should hit the spot.
Here’s where to get it from:
Bandcamp:
https://paganaltarofficial.bandcamp.com/
Pagan Altar Web Site:
http://www.paganaltar.com/
Sonic Age Records
https://sonicagerecords.com/_shop/