Pagan Altar | Artist
Pagan Altar is an English doom metal band formed 1978 in Brockley London by Terry Jones (vocals), Alan Jones (guitar, backing vocals), Glenn Robinson (bass), Les Moody (rhythm guitar) and Ivor Harper (drums). Terry and Alan Jones are father and son. Alongside Witchfinder General Pagan Altar are one of the few new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) bands to play doom metal. This quirky and obscure British father-and-son-led group went through numerous lineup changes but managed to release a self-titled demo in 1982 which was heavily bootlegged and brought them a cult following in the following years, but it wasn't until 1998 that they released their first CD. Their later releases feature re-recordings of songs originally written and recorded, but not released, by the band in the late '70s and early '80s. The first album would be re-released as an official full-length on Oracle Records in 1998, retitled Volume 1. After disbanding in the late '80s, the group reformed in 2004 to re-record an album of previously unreleased material which had been written earlier. The resulting album, Lords of Hypocrisy, met with a positive reception from fans, and a third full-length album duly followed in 2006, entitled Mythical and Magical. In 2012, Pagan Altar began work on their next album, with the working title Never Quite Dead, in a purpose-built recording studio in the back garden of vocalist Terry Jones's home. The 2013 lineup included Terry and Alan Jones, along with Dean Alexander (drums), Vinny Konrad [Vince Hempstead] (guitar), and Diccon Harper (bass). On 15 May 2015, vocalist and founder Terry Jones died of cancer. The band had finished recording the upcoming album, which was in its final mastering stage but was partially re-recorded by Alan Jones and finally released in 2017 under the title The Room of Shadows. All of the band's studio albums are recommended, as is the 2021 archival album The Story of Pagan Altar, and the 2004 EP The Time Lord. The band's concerts are characterised by moody, epic and heavy music, blended with stage effects which accentuate their interest in occult themes.
Artist Website: paganaltar.com
Featured Albums: Pagan Altar
Related Artists: Witchfinder General
Video Clips: Judgement of the Dead, The Black Mass, Alan Jones Interview
