8

Pagan Altar's musical style was also slightly different, guitar lead breaks and infill's were as much an integral part of the song as the vocals and they played off one another like Morecambe and Wise. This unison of compatibility is what helped make Pagan Altar what they were. If you listen closely to middle passage of ‘The Wake of Armadeus’ in particular you will hear the guitar playing in harmony with the vocals, I personally can’t recall anyone else doing that before!
Their music was constructed in such a way as to extract the maximum power from each riff. The subtle changes of rhythm between riff sections give the impression of flowing and blending into each other and so appear as a natural progression. Never one to overkill a riff Pagan Altar designed each song with an overall viewpoint that gives the song a beginning, a middle and an end and so becomes the complete, finished article.

An extremely tight not over elaborate bass allows the drums to be both fluent and powerful giving a free flowing, yet still rock solid foundation for the intricacies of guitar and vocals. A subtle mix of gut wrenching power riffs and downright earthiness sit comfortably with ALAN JONES’S lead guitar sound some guitarists would give their right arm for!
As a matter of note, for any interested parties, Alan uses a Hagstrom ‘Super Swede’ with a Derringer pick up at the neck and a Demarzio at the bridge. The Amp is a 100W Marshall top (valve) through 2 x 4 x 12”s.
The vocal line is set quite low in the mix and this give the overall sounds an ambience and fullness that add to the feeling of power.
Amidst all, the music retains momentary wistful passages in contrast that make it compelling and interesting. The feeling of emptiness generated in ‘Judgement of the Dead’ is so strong you can almost smell the graveyard. The end result of which, is music that still stands up today after 20 years.
Over those years, people have likened Pagan Altar to this band or that band, but this just substantiates my point and that Pagan Altar were a breed apart and the listener will read into the music what they will!