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Despite losing original singer Terry Jones back in 2015, guitarist Alan Jones kept Pagan Altar going and in 2025 has released the band's sixth full-length album, Never Quite Dead. The music on Never Quite Dead is in the same vein of '70s proto metal/occult hard rock fans of the band ate up on classic releases like Lords of Hypocrisy and Mythical & Magical. The influence of groups like Rush, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd echo throughout the album, mixing with the hard rock/heavy metal of the early NWOBHM, and Pagan Altar shows they are equally adept at ripping things up with a straightforward anthem like "Saints and Sinners" or creating a doomy, occult atmosphere on "Well of Despair". Sumerlands singer Brendan Radigan does a good job evoking the distinctive, nasal delivery of Terry Jones, always one of the most distinctive features of Pagan Altar, without simply aping him. He sounds more like Mark Shelton from the early Manilla Road albums to me, but that works just fine. Never Quite Dead is not as good as classic Pagan Altar and no one should really expect that, but it is a fine album, striking the same balance between hard rock and heavy metal, between rambunctious heaviness and gloomy atmospheric doom, this band's early works did so well. If you wondered if Pagan Altar was dead and gone, their new album title has the perfect answer.