Pagan Altar is a doom metal band formed in 1978 in Brockley, England. Alongside Witchfinder General, they are one of the few "NWOBHM" bands to play doom metal. Although they were ignored by mainstream metal media during the early and mid 80s, their influence did not emerge until after the 80s incarnation had broken up.

Their gigs were characterized by moody, epic and heavy music interpreted with highly visual stage aspect which accented their interest for occult themes. Pagan Altar's only release from that era was independent, self-released, self-titled album which was in later years often bootlegged. It was finally officially re-released on Oracle Records in 1998 and titled "Volume 1".

In 2004, Pagan Altar reunited, re-recorded and released their previously unfinished second album, "Lords of Hypocrisy. These songs date back to the first 1980s incarnation. Also in 2004, "The Time Lord EP" was released, which contains recordings that date back to the band's inception in 1978.

Their third album, "Mythical & Magical" was released in late 2006 and features a considerable amount of material that also date back prior to the 1982 release.