Altar De Fey originated in San Francisco in the early eighties as part of the emerging musical form that would come to be known as deathrock. Out of the Zeitgeist flash of 70’s Punk Rock the new sound took the darkest elements of the counter culture into ever deeper, gloomier and more mature territory. If you are into classic Christian Death, 45 Grave, Kommunity FK, Burning Image and son, then Altar De Fey was and probably still is your thing.

The original incarnation of the band passed through a rotating cast of characters centered strongly by the vision and experimental guitar of founding member Kent Cates. Add to that the tribal drumming of Aleph Kali and Butch Mason’s vocals.

Though the band had a strong base of support, no original recordings were ever released and the young members carried on into new musical endeavors. By 1988 Altar De Fey disbanded.

Out now on vinyl via Other Voices Records is “Original Sin – An Anthology of the early Years”, a compilation offering you 11 original Altar De Fey songs recorded between 1984 and 1986. Included are demos, rehearsal records and concert recordings. The material was already released in 2015 via the Russian label Wondervogel Records on cassette in 2015, and on CD via that other Russian label Other Voices Records in 2019. It was however never before released on vinyl until now. Note that a new mastering was applied for this vinyl release, by Martin Bowes in 2019.

The rehearsal songs on this vinyl were recorded at House of De Fey, while the demos were recorded on December 11th 1985 at Dragon Studios, Pacifica in California.

The vinyl set is limited to 250 copies.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Post-Punk, death-rock.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl, Box (CD + LP).

Background/Info: Originally from San Francisco (USA) Altar De Fey saw the light of day in the early 80s. “Original Sin” is meant as an anthology of the band’s early years featuring live- and rehearsal songs. Originally released in 2015 on cassette by Wondervogel Records (Russia) the album has been re-released late 2019 by Other Voices Records.

Content: The work features 11 songs that have all been recorded and/or performed in 1985 and 1986. I wasn’t at all familiar with Altar De Rey and discovered a typical early 80s post-punk sound recorded with rudimentary equipment. Some songs remain instrumental edits while the live takes vaguely bring the stage spirit to life.

+ + + : I think it’s cool for the fans of the band to get this album now available on CD and vinyl. The guitar and global song structures are definitely 80s like and will appeal to punk lovers.

– – – : I’m not convinced at all by this recording. Sometimes it’s cool and even great to discover some forgotten little treasures from the past, but this recording is really too bad to be true. It’s not only about the poor sound quality from the mix and recording, but the songs can’t convince me at any single moment. They simply sound poorly inspired and unaccomplished.

Conclusion: This is an album for the die-hard fans or some 80s collectors, but absolutely not essential to me!

Best songs:   “She’s Fun”.

Rate: (3).

Artist: www.facebook.com/AltarDeFey

Label: www.othervoicesrecords.com / www.facebook.com/pages/Other–Voices–Records/196767663702999

About Altar De Fey

Altar De Fey formed in San Francisco in the early 1980s as part of the city’s deathrock scene, sharing bills with Christian Death and 45 Grave at venues including Mabuhay Gardens. The band’s catalogue includes the “1986 Demos” and “I See Demons” compilations (2013), “1975” and “Echoes In The Corridor” (2016), a self-titled album (2017), “The Insatiable Desire…For More” (2019) and “And May Love Conquer All” (2020).

In April 2021, Side-Line reported a vinyl release for the same anthology recordings covered by “Original Sin”.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com