London’s Pagan Altar are a band who never fulfilled the promise their original tenure suggested. Formed in Brockley in 1978, their brand of doom metal seemed at odds with the prevailing punk and NWOBHM winds, and after seven years of thankless toil they called it a day, leaving just one demo in their wake. However, the band were far from idle and recorded albums that would be released around the turn of the millennium, and later to be given traction by the band’s proper reformation in 2004. Mythical & Magical features tracks written between 1977 and 1983, and finally put to tape in Oracle Studios as 2005 morphed into 2006. Two decades later, that album still sounds fresh and gets a timely reissue by Dying Victims Promotions to ensure it’ll sound exciting many years hence.

Whether Mythical & Magical is Pagan Altar’s third or fourth album is open to conjecture due to the confusion surrounding when they were originally written and recorded (and don’t bother frying your brain trying to work it out), but no matter where Mythical & Magical sits along the Pagan Altar lineage, it is arguably the band’s best (and amongst stiff competition, that’s saying something). Opening with the mean and moody ‘Samhein’, this album gets off to the very best of starts with the guitars interplaying well; the rhythm rolling on tank tracks and the lead threading its way through like silky twine. The bass and drums are solid, but unobtrusive, creating a fertile ground from which much goodness grows; they don’t feel the need to be flash or dynamic, their power derives from a less-is-more aesthetic that finds them playing from within the songs, rather than driving them. However, it is vocalist Terry Jones (R.I.P., 2005) who is the focal point; his nasal style might be an anathema to some, but it is in perfect sync with tracks such as the aptly-tiled ‘The Sorcerer’. Terry does indeed sound like a wizard, an elder statesman/shaman citing strange incantations and the likes of ‘The Flight Of The Witch Queen’ seem to echo to us from an ancient age.

As you’d expect from a band operating in the doom sphere, Sabbath are an obvious influence on Pagan Altar (but then again, what metal band doesn’t owe a debt to Sabbath?) along with a 1970’s desert rock vibe, but aside from those inspirations, Pagan Altar are rocking like a band who know they’ve found their very own signature sound. The vistas which the band create are wide and vast in scope, they’re very cinematic and songs such as ‘The Erl King’ will plant strong, vivid images in your mind’s eye. They are mini epics full of three-dimensional characters who are magically born from the notes and motifs that the band play. The songs range from the ethereal, misty morning wistfulness of the aforementioned ‘The Erl King’ to full-on rockers like ‘The Witches Pathway’ and all played by a band who know they’re onto a good thing.

The themes that stitch this album together are tight enough to give things a concept feel, but loose enough for the listener to infer their own meaning. That makes Mythical & Magical an album that can be enjoyed as a complete whole (preferably) to appreciate its ebb and flow, whilst any of these songs could be plucked from the album and experienced individually, and that’s what give the album its edge.

• Mythical & Magical is released via Dying Victims on 27th February 2026.

Track List:

1. Samhein
2. The Cry Of The Banshee
3. The Crowman
4. Daemoni Na Noiche
5. The Sorcerer
6. The Flight Of The Witch Queen
7. Dance Of The Druids
8. The Erl King
9. The Witches Pathway
10. Sharnie
11. The Rising Of The Dark Lord