Review 14

Eerie organ sounds lead into this colossal piece of Heavy Metal history with the name "The Lords of Hypocrisy" and foreshadow what is soon to come!! Cause only a few moments later the awestruck vocals of Terry Jones join in and before we realize it, we're right within the gigantic opener and titletrack, a Doom Metal hymn for eternity!! Driven onward by mercyless heavyness and cloaked in magical grace and beauty, this song delivers deeply 70s styled Oldschool Doom, that will take the iron hearts of all honest and idealistic Hard'n'Heavy freaks by storm!! Every single note enthrallingly reflects the passion and devotion of the gifted Pagan Altar musicians and at each and every second, this track casts a spell that you will never ever be able to escape again!! And when only a few moments later sheer gigantic lines like "Death will come to even the rightous, only the good die young. So live your life they way that your want to, don't let them think they've won!" are sung, then even the last unbeliever will realize, that there's no escape from the firm grip of Pagan Altar's bony claw!! Believe me, you'll never find Hard Rock and Heavy Metal music celebrated in a better and more stirring way than here... this song stands forever on as an indestructable monument, forget from purest steel!! And even though it seems almost impossible, these hotshots named Pagan Altar easily succeed in keping the supernal level of the opener with each and every of the following songs!! And while doing so, they reach musicial spheres which are so high, that we common mortals can't even see 'em with our bare eyes!! On the massive ground of a fantastic monstersound our English pals rock ulta-heavy... sometimes impulsive, sometimes creepy, sometimes thoughtful, but always in a way that literally fill our eyes with tears of sheer excitement and amazement!! In the last 35 years, since Black Sabbath gave birth to Heavy Metal with their selftitled debut album, there has not often been a music as beautiful and wonderful as on "The Lords of Hypocrisy"!! In my eyes, Pagan Altar's new album even slams their legendary debut and everybody who has ever heard that immortal classic album definitly knows what that means for its follower!
As breathtaking as the music is also the package, because in terms of quality the British label Miskatonic Foundation has really done an outstanding job!! The cover by the hand of Martin Hanford (well known for his work for Twisted Tower Dire, Slough Feg, Bal Sagoth and others) is without exaggerating one of the most beautiful pictures ever to decorate the frontside on an LP, the terrificly layouted gatefold sleeve goes strong with heavy cardboard and huge spine, both LPs are made from really heavy wax and compared to the CD, the vinyl also contains two stunning bonus tracks!! And, as if that wouldn't be enough, the "die hard" version – which is reviewed here – also includes a woven patch, a signed poster and a handnumbered certificate on noble paper!! And by the gods, whoever takes a look on this fantastic equipment and design and doesn't get totally crazy design on it, must surely be blind or something like that... anyway... since some years ago I decided to rate the albums reviewed at Metal Coven with procent numbers from 1 to 100, I've never come across a release, that – in terms of music, layout and equipment – was so amazing that I gave full 100 points... but in concerns of the die hard edition of "The Lords of Hypocrisy", everything else would be simply a farce!! Cause even though the competition in form of the monstrous albums of bands like Adramelch, Slough Feg, Forsaken or Reverend Bizarre is unbelievably strong, this here is definitly my favorite album of the year 2005... and even when in some years the album of the decade will be elected, I can only think of maybe a handful of other records that can at least rudimentally hold pace with the godlike new Pagan Altar LP!!

The 125 copies of the die hard edition were already sold out at the day of the release, by the way, so if you haven't bought your copy yet, you'll unfortunatly have to miss the patch, poster and certificate and take the normal edition instead... but also in that case, I'd recommend you to hurry, cause I think the 375 copies of this version will be sold out pretty soon as well!!