Pagan Altar: The Time Lord/Judgement Of The Dead (2024, Dying Victims Productions)

Pagan Altar is one of those bands that despite the little popularity they enjoyed during their first stage, between 1978 and 1985, have gained some popularity over the years after their reunion in 2004 with some line-up changes since their first stage. Their debut album Volume 1, recorded in 1982, was not released until 1998 through the British label Oracle Records. Since then we have been able to enjoy four new albums by Pagan Altar with their doom metal-tinged NWOBHM label to date.

Today these lines are occupied by Pagan Altar‘s first two recordings, the 1978 EP The Time Lord (2004, I Hate Records) and the full-length debut album Judgment Of The Dead, also released in 2004 through Oracle Records. In both releases we find high quality music with a high doom component and a fairly old feel in the good sense of the word. Pagan Altar‘s music maintains the spirit and essence of classic eighties heavy music that at times borders on progressive rock with songs that range between four and nine minutes in length, with both releases lasting up to almost forty minutes of duration.

The Time Lord has great songs like Judgment Of The Dead or Reincarnation, probably the best compositions that we can find in this EP where the band demonstrates to move with great ease between heavier songs as in the case of Judgment Of The Dead and songs in the middle tempo like in Reincarnation where the band shows a measured progression that captivates the listener at all times. The voice of the late vocalist Terry Jones (1945-2015) is one of the strong points of the album along with the great work of Alan Jones and Les Moody on guitars.

Judgment Of The Dead, in turn, is the first studio album recorded by Pagan Altar in 1982 and originally released in 2005 through Black Widow Records. Here we are shown a much fitter band than in The Time Lord (2004) with a difference of three/four years between the release of the EP and their debut album. Obviously, the band enjoys greater cohesion where the production plays in favor of the general composition despite not having Les Moody on guitar on this occasion. In Judgment Of The Dead we find bassist Glenn Robinson replacing Trevor Portch who had been part of Pagan Altar in The Time Lord as well as John Mizrahi on drums who replaces Ivor Harper and Mark Elliot who had participated in the aforementioned EP as drummers.

The album features great songs from their discography such as the dense In The Wake Of Amadeus or the catchy Night Rider, as well as a new version of Reincarnation, Judgment Of The Dead and The Black Mass that had already been recorded for The Time Lord. In general terms, there is a considerable improvement in their new versions that were originally recorded between 1978 and 1979, and with this re-issue by Dying Victims Productions they enjoy a much greater presence thanks to the meticulous work that has been done with the mastering of their new versions.

The new editions The Time Lord and Judgment Of The Dead have a very careful presentation in their new editions where the vinyl format wins by a landslide. Judgment Of The Dead is released on black vinyl and bone white vinyl, while The Time Lord is available on black vinyl and olive green vinyl. Both albums can be purchased through the official Dying Victims Productions website.