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At a time when most English heavy metal bands were reinventing the genre for future generations by adopting the D.I.Y.lessons of punkrock andthe hyperactive energy of Motörhead (then approaching the height of their powers) to launch thelegendary New Wave of BritishHeavy Metal,London's Pagan Altar represented a truly unfashionable stylistic anomaly in theearly '80s. Along with a scant selection ofcontemporaries -- mostnotably Stourbridge's far better-known Witchfinder General-- Pagan Altar remained fairly loyal to the sluggishtempos and gothic occultism thatdominated heavy metal's original tem ...read more
At a time when most English heavy metal bands were reinventing the genre for future generations by adopting the D.I.Y.lessons of punkrock andthe hyperactive energy of Motörhead (then approaching the height of their powers) to launch thelegendary New Wave of BritishHeavy Metal,London's Pagan Altar represented a truly unfashionable stylistic anomaly in theearly '80s. Along with a scant selection ofcontemporaries -- mostnotably Stourbridge's far better-known Witchfinder General-- Pagan Altar remained fairly loyal to the sluggishtempos and gothic occultism thatdominated heavy metal's original templateas defined by their definitive forefathers, Black Sabbath. As aresult, Pagan Altar never earned a recorddeal throughout thecourse of their eight-year career, and, in retirement, endured the dubioushonor of becoming one of the biggest cult actsoftheir generation, before finally enjoying some measure of recognition and resuming theirrecording activities in the newmillennium.http://paganaltarofficial.bandcamp.com/Based in the southeast London suburb of Brockley, brothers Terry (vocals) and Alan Jones (guitar) began writing songs andconceptualizingtheband that would become Pagan Altar between 1978 and 1979, reportedly spending almost as much timeon the concepts and themesthey wishedto portray as on the music itself. In due time, a five-piece lineup could be foundgigging regularly around London's pubs andclubs behind an ever-evolving collection of songs inspired by ancient masters likeBlack Sabbath and Black Widow, and supported by on-stage theatrics ranging fromhooded sorcerers' cloaks to pyrotechnicsand props like coffins, skulls, black candles, and inverted crosses(giving fellow New Wave of BritishHeavy Metal shock artistsDemon a run for their money). Over the next few years, the ever-present Jonesbrothers worked with numeroushenchmen(including bassist Glenn Robinson and drummer Mark Elliott) to propagate Pagan Altar'sintensely conceptualized vision, but itwas withthe longstanding rhythm section of Trevor Portch (bass) and Israel-born John Mizrahi(percussion) that they finallyrecorded several tracks writtenbetween 1978 and 1981 at their own Pagan Studios in 1982. (This followed anunsuccessfulsingle release after sessions at Abbey Road Studios in1980.)Intended to serve as both a demo to be shopped to record labels and the foundation of an album, these tracks would,amazingly, only beofficiallyreleased in the mid-'90s, after years spent trafficking the fan-powered network of worldwide tape-trading, so crucial to the diffusionofunderground heavy metal before the advent of the Internet. In the interim, Pagan Altarhad weathered several more years ofdisappointment andfrustration amid countless small-time gigs, homemade recordings,and frequent musician turnover, before finallythrowing in the towel in 1985.And since their belated "rediscovery" (not unlikethat which befell cult American doomsters Pentagram), theJones siblings have recruited newmusicians and issued severaladditional albums under the Pagan Altar banner, including 2004's The TimeLord EP and The Lords of Hypocrisy LP,and 2006'sMythical & Magical. Be advised, however, that after deciding that most of their originalrecordings were simply not up tostandard forrelease (or had been destroyed by the wear and tear of time), the present-day lineup of PaganAltar proceededto re-record them for use in thesereleases, thereby diminishing their "collectible" value, if not necessarily the quality ofthemusic itself. « hide |
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