Pagan Altar - 'The Dead's Last March' (visualizer video)

Somber mist's part revealing the moon
Grotesque silhouettes
playing against the gloom
Acrid ichor flowing up
from the unhallowed ground
Close your eyes and block your ears from
the mighty sound of hell

Tortured corpses arise once again
Mutilated avatars that haunt the minds
of men
From the black veil of the past now comes
their wicked reign
Murderers and predators march with the
slain to prey

Ever onward they stagger in line
Satan's will be echoing
through all time
Cowering the mortals plead, oh,
let this be the last!
Lessons of futility
that fade into the years long dead

Will we ever live to see the end?
Hands of doom have torn the seals open
And within their rotting fists they hold
The cruel fate or our accursed souls

Has the King of Kings been overthrown?
Horrid thralls of hades scream and moan
Masses forced through the eternal arch
Condemned at the dead's last march!

Δισκογραφική επιστροφή μετά από μία οκταετία για τους Pagan Altar. "Never Quite Dead" ο τίτλος και αναμένεται στην "καρδιά" της άνοιξης μέσω της δισκογραφικής εταιρείας Dying Victims Productions. Οι Pagan Altar μας έρχονται από την Μεγάλη Βρετανία.

Δημιουργήθηκαν το μακρινό 1978 και συνεχίζουν μέχρι τις ημέρες μας. Μας συστήνονται κάπως έτσι: «Pagan Altar are one of the originators of doomy NWOBHM, mixing their '70s influences into occult-tinged heavy metal» και έχουν κυκλοφορήσει πέντε "ολοκληρωμένους" δίσκους, ένα demo, ένα ep και μία συλλογή!

Δελτίο τύπου: «Pagan Altar are the very definition of a CULT band. Formed in 1978, during the early days of the influential NWOBHM movement, they honed their craft onstage with an eerie, dramatic presentation.

And yet, the Pagan Altar sound tended more toward doom metal - which, back then, was not quite yet a subgenre with its own aesthetics - but also infused with their native English folk as well as hard rock.

Still, the world outside the UK would not know about the band until years after their dissolution, with the 1998 release of Volume 1, Pagan Altar's debut album recorded in 1982.

Thereafter, the cult of Pagan Altar would begin to grow, and a whole new fanbase hungry for old sounds waited for any sign of uncovered gold. In 2004, treasures aplenty began to appear.

First was The Time Lord EP, which dated back to Pagan Altar's very earliest days, and later that year came the full-length Lords of Hypocrisy, whose material was originally recorded during 1982-1984 but was re-recorded in 2004: past to present, the band was indeed active again!

A year later, the full-length Judgement of the Dead arrived, featuring material written between 1978 and 1981 and recorded in 1982 but remastered in 1998; a bonus track recorded in 2004 was added, again bringing past to present.

Past and present truly collided on 2006’s monolithic Mythical & Magical - truly, a perfect description of Pagan Altar at the height of their mesmerizing powers - which featured material spanning 1977-1983 but recorded over the course of 2005 and 2006.

Thereafter, only two new songs would emerge for a while - one on a split with Jex Thoth in 2007, the other in 2011 - before, tragically, founding vocalist Terry Jones’ death from cancer in 2015.

However, before his death and led by his son and co-founding guitarist Alan, the band had been working on another album, which would later be finished and released in 2017 as The Room of Shadows.

Miraculously, The Room of Shadows proved not to be the band’s epitaph, as Pagan Altar defy time and return with Never Quite Dead - a “new” record in theory, but one bearing the imprint of the past, particularly with Terry Jones’ unmistakable touch.

On vocals here is Brendan Radigan, who true metallers will know from Magic Circle, Sumerlands, Savage Oath, and tons more. His somber, ever-so-poignant tones pay reverence to the prevailing Pagan Altar sound whilst putting a distinctive touch upon Never Quite Dead.

As Alan Jones details within the album’s liner notes, nearly all the songs on the album - barring the closer “Kismet,” which came as a precursor to Alan’s band Malac’s Cross in the early ‘90s - originated while Terry was still alive, and thus does Never Quite Dead remain an authentically Pagan Altar album.

From the Rainbow-rocking opener “Saints and Sinners” on to trad-doom juggernauts like “Liston Church” and “The Dead’s Last March” to the emotional climax of the aforementioned “Kismet,” pretty much every aspect of Pagan Altar is covered in incredibly compelling fashion…even the folk instrumental “Westbury Express,” keeping the mythical & magical alive. Never Quite Dead? You better believe it!»

Band: Pagan Altar
Country of origin: United Kingdom
Location: Brockley, London, England
Formed in: 1978
Genre: NWOBHM, Doom Metal
Lyrical themes: Magic, Occultism
Years active: 1978-1985, 2004-present

Video: "The Dead's Last March"
Album: "Never Quite Dead"
Type: Full length
Release date: April 25th, 2025
Label: Dying Victims Productions
Format: CD, 12" vinyl, Cassette, Digital

Track listing:
1. Saints And Sinners
2. Liston Church
3. Madame M'Rachel
4. Madame M'Rachel's Grave
5. Well Of Despair
6. The Dead's Last March
7. Westbury Express
8. Kismet

Band members:
Brendan Radigan - Vocals
Alan Jones - Guitars
Diccon Harper - Bass
Andy Green - Drums
Denis Schneider - Guitars (Live)

Miscellaneous staff:
Terry Jones (R.I.P. 2015) - Lyrics