• New Music Reviews
• |
• Archives
• |
• News
• |
• Submissions
• |
• About
• |
• 
• |
• 

November 2024

• Voodoo Circle: Hail To The King
• Lionville: Supernatural
• Starchaser: Into The Great Unkown
• Empires Of Eden: Guardians Of Time
• Lonerider: Down In The Dust
• Seventh Crystal: Entity
• Neal Morse & The Resonance: No Hill For A Climber
• Beardfish: Songs For Beating Hearts
• Impellitteri: War Machine
• Brothers Of Metal: Fimbulvinter

October 2024

• Casandra's Crossing: Garden Of Earthly Delights
• DGM: Endless
• Daytona: Garder la Flamme
• Fate: Reconnect 'N Ignite
• Frost*: Life In The Wires
• Aries Descendant: From The Ashes Of Deceit
• Fans Of The Dark: Video
• Radioactive: Reset
• House Of Lords: Full Tilt Overdrive
• Cleanbreak: We Are The Fire

September 2024

• Sinner's Blood: Dark Horizons
• Serious Black: Rise Of Akhenaton
• Eclipse: Megalomanium II
• SteelCity: Reverence
• Hydra: ReHydrated
• Heartwind: III
• Gabrielle De Val and the Dragonlords: Tiger
• Find Me: Nightbound
• The Nail: The Nail
• Timeless Fairytale: A Story To Tell
• Stryper: When We Were Kings
• Phil Mogg: Moggs Motel
• Pure Reason Revolution: Coming Up To Consciousness
• Jordan Rudess: Permission To Fly

August 2024

• Siege Perilous: Creation's Call EP
• Paralydium: Universe Calls
• Mike Tramp: Songs Of White Lion Vol. II
• Bite The Bullet: Looking For Paradise
• All For Metal: Gods Of Metal (Year Of The Dragon)
• Hammerfall: Avenge The Fallen
• Jim Peterik & World Stage: Roots & Shoots Vol. 2

[ More Music Reviews ]

Pagan Altar: The Time Lord (EP)

Meleodic Heavy/Doom Metal (NWOBHM)

3.5/5.0

Website Facebook
Shadow Kingdom Records
by Craig Hartranft,  09.05.2012

Shadow Kingdom Records reaches deep into the obscure darkness of early New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) to find the early recordings of Pagan Altar. Like their British brethren Witchfinder General, Pagan Altar plays a form of doom metal mixed with melodic heavy metal.

Pagan Altar: circa 2012.

These recordings date to early as 1978 as demo recordings for the band. Some songs subsequently arrived on cassette, to be bootlegged as well. They arose from obscurity on Oracle Records as Volume 1 in 1998, an event that seemed to recharge and reform the group to begin recording again. In 2004, the exact same songs found here, although in a different order, arrived on the vinyl version of The Time Lord. Two years later, Pagan Altar would release a double vinyl LP of new material called The Lords of Hypocrisy.

If you like old school melodic and epic doom metal, which isn't pathetically sluggish, you'll need to add The Time Lord EP to your collection. Highway Cavalier is less doom metal and more classic heavy metal. The title track and Judgement of the Dead are the best of the doom equation, having more interesting arrangements and guitar solos. Black Mass and the final long piece Reincarnation, not so much. Pagan Altar and their The Time Lord reminds of other old school purveyors of the genre like the long serving Candlemass, but also more recent upstarts like Altar of Oblivion from Denmark, also on Shadow Kingdom Records. Recommended, if only for the history.

Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.

If you like old school, melodic and epic, doom metal, which isn't pathetically sluggish, akin to Candlemass or Altar of Oblivion you'll need to add the The Time Lord EP to your collection.

Alphabetical Index

eviewing my archives, I was pleased to find that I have had the privilege to review every Lionville since their self-titled debut in 2011. Formed by Stefano Lionetti, a songwriter, singer and guitarist based in ... [ Read More ]