From the Dustbin Returned: Pagan Altar: Volume I (1998) ...

Judging by the biography on their website, there is some bitterness lingering in the hearts of Pagan Altar. The term “true underground” appears, plus the writer (an ex-drummer) throws a few jabs at the British music press of the early 1980s. Formed in the late ‘70s, Pagan Altar were an English doom/heavy rock and roll band that just never really got off the ground during their first run. Since their competition at the time consisted of bands like Iron Maiden and Def Leppard, Pagan Altar, who often went on stage dressed like druids in front of a makeshift black mass equipped with Marshall stacks, were easy to overlook and even ridicule. After all, slow and gloomy were out of fashion. As such, Pagan Altar called it quits in 1985 to little fanfare in either the U.K. or U.S.

Unfortunately for founding members Alan and Terry Jones, this lesson would be repeated by their other venture—Witchfinder General. Like Pagan Altar, Witchfinder General approached heavy metal from the perspective of the fog-shrouded and dewy confines of ancient Britannia. Both bands wrapped themselves in the cloak of history, from the primordial remains of Stonehenge to the burning years of the English Civil War. By 1989, American neoconservative author Francis Fukuyama would be questioning the end of history, but even before that, in the underground metal community, the roots of hard and heavy music were being cast off in favor of the snotty and aggressive newcomer called hardcore punk. At one point in the tribal history of metal, Black Sabbath was not considered cool, and thus bands that reeked of their rain swept atmosphere were considered boobs at best.

But even before Pagan Altar’s first dissolution, a funny thing happened. The band’s demo, which was recorded in their own studio in Brockley, made its way to America via the old Silk Road of tape trading. American teenagers ate it up, and before long the band was flooded with letters calling for more material. This must have been quite the shock for a British band that couldn’t even rely on the once steadfast university circuit in their own country. Still, this underground swell presaged things to come, for like America’s own Pentagram, Pagan Altar is a band that was given the unique honor of a second (and third) chance.



This second chance was called “Volume I,” and it was released by Oracle Records in 1998. “Volume I” was originally a self-produced and independently released cassette tape from 1982. This then was more or less the music that the proud few heard all those many years ago, and over a decade later, it was the same music that the nascent masters of the Internet heard while they were searching for unknown, unsigned, and underappreciated bands of yesteryear. Pagan Altar is all of that, and “Volume I” is a testament to how out-of-step they were during the heyday of NWOBHM.

Although it is only seven songs long, “Volume I” is a dark odyssey that conjures up images of devilish dwarves, bearded wizards, and the overall feeling of melancholy. And yet, despite this abject darkness, there’s an undeniable sense of classic rock power in many of the album’s songs. Specifically, “Judgement [sic] of the Dead,” which is the band’s most well-known track, is underscored by a melodic riff that contains all of the masculine magic of Norse drinking songs and Celtic battle cries. Of course this was not the intent, for lead singer Terry Jones composed the lyrics to the song during an extended night’s stay at the demonically-titled Nunhead Cemetery. This is akin to those Norwegian black metal bands who buried their stage clothes under the earth in order to get that graveyard look, for both acts are intentionally done in the name diabolism.

While “Judgement of the Dead” rings with unbridled power, the other standout track on “Volume I,” “The Black Mass,” is a much darker invocation of inverted Catholicism. And while “The Black Mass” contains a glorious riff all its own, it is nevertheless the record’s “Black Sabbath”—a moody rocker with a little pep and a lot of Satan. Because of “Judgement of the Dead” and “The Black Mass,” Pagan Altar have a reputation as yet another one of heavy metal’s flashy, pseudo-Satanic bands. “Volume I” dispels this stereotype, for on their very first LP, Pagan Altar produced songs such as “Night Rider” (about Persephone’s abduction by Hades) and “Reincarnation,” both of which concern themselves with myth and fantasy. “Reincarnation” in particular is full of wonder, and this concluding track smacks of Tolkien and other assorted admirers of Britain’s natural splendor.

Coupled with all of these passages, it’s important to also point out that “Volume I” contains an acoustic instrumental entitled “The Dance of the Banshee.” Such activity was usually left to bigger bands like Led Zeppelin, so Pagan Altar’s inclusion of a light, bouncy acoustic piece on an otherwise obsidian release was a fairly brave move. Then again, when no one is looking at you, you can get away with a lot, and very few people were paying attention to Pagan Altar in 1982.

Nowadays, Pagan Altar are lauded as one of the primary forefathers of modern doom. This praise is well earned, and without a doubt “Volume I” provides a blueprint for later, more theatrical bands like Candlemass and Cathedral. Likewise, the release of “Volume I” helped to put some steam behind the resurrection of Pagan Altar, and in 2004, the band reformed and is still playing the occasional gig somewhere in the world. Not bad for a band that was judged to be dead and gone.

Words: Benjamin Welton

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