PAGAN ALTAR — The Time Lord (review)

EP · 2004 · Traditional Doom Metal

4.5/5 · 2012-08-16
adg211288

The Time Lord is an EP release by British doom metal act Pagan Altar. Originally released as a limited vinyl in 2004, the release contains five tracks of the NWoBHM era group’s early material, all of which was written and recorded in the 1978 – 1979 period. In short The Time Lord may only be five tracks, but with over half an hour of music, even before I’d heard the music I knew I was dealing with a must have package for any fan of the band. The Time Lord was re-released multiple times, with a second pressing by original label I Hate Records in 2006, and a remastered vinyl re-issue by Buried by Time and Dust Records in either 2011 or 2012 (sources differ). Finally, after eight years, The Time Lord received a CD release from Cruz Del Sur Music in 2012, with a wide distribution between many labels for different parts of the world, meaning that fans now have an even better chance of getting their hands on the EP.

History lesson out of the way, the music of The Time Lord is best described as what we’d call in these modern times as being retro, although of course because of when it was recorded, it isn’t retro at all, but being from a younger generation it’s the best description I can come up with. Hopefully you get the idea though. The influence of the legendary Black Sabbath is extremely evident with the fuzzy guitars and most especially the vocals which are not unlike Ozzy’s style. It’s that classic sort of metal sound of early doom metal that doesn’t age and sounds just as interesting in 2012 as it would have done in the seventies. Given that the music on the EP was recorded at different times, the first two tracks representing one session and the other three another that came some time later, I do find that there is a noticeable difference in quality, especially production wise, between the two sessions even with the remastering which is present on my version, resulting in a minor blip to the flow of the EP, but fortunately it doesn’t take me long to forget that as I get into the music again.

The best track I think is the title track. Lasting just over eight minutes I’d consider it a gem of early doom metal. The rest of the release is pretty fine too, and I’m particularly fond of Highway Cavalier and Reincarnation, but it’s this one track that stands out above the other four. I guess it’s fair to say that I may have been more ecstatic about the EP as whole had it not actually been my introduction to the group, as in some ways it definitely feels like one should have a grounding with the band’s better known material before coming to The Time Lord. On the other hand personally speaking I found the five tracks to be an excellent introduction to Pagan Altar’s music, and I am definitely interested in hearing their full-lengths now. So in that sense, The Time Lord is a double success and it comes very highly recommended!

8.8/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))