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The title of this album is pretty spot-on, as I thought this band was done. It's been eight years since their last album, the disappointing Room of Shadows, and almost twenty since their masterwork Mythical & Magical, right at the capstone of their most creative period. After a letdown of an album on top of the death of lifelong vocalist Terry Jones in 2015, I was sure this band was done, and I was sad to see them go, especially on such a weak note.

But Pagan Altar are, as the name would suggest, Never Quite Dead. There were two questions the band had to answer for this: could they find a singer to fill that space, and could their songwriting bounce back? The answer to both of those is, surprisingly, yes. There may be nothing here to match the sublime air-guitar joys of "Cry of the Banshee" or "The Rising of the Dark Lord," but these are some good songs, and they are definitively Pagan Altar songs. Alan Jones has been a guitar wizard for decades with his memorable, classic riffs and rampaging lead work, and he does not disappoint here.

The vocal problem was the bigger one, as Jones was the definitive sound of the band through their entire existence. He wasn't a great singer, but his reedy, nasal style was impossible to separate from the band's sound. It would be easy to find someone who was a better singer than Jones, but very hard to find one with a voice that matched the vibe of this band. For the job, they picked Savage Oath/Sumerlands vocalist Brendan Radigan, who digs into his most arcane, nasal tone to evoke Jones's style rather than copy it. He's not doing an impression, but taking just enough from his predecessor so that he fits the music, landing on an approach that sometimes sounds remarkably like Mark Shelton.

In general, the first half of the album is stronger, with opener "Saints and Sinners" really taking off and setting a standard. Songs like "Madame M'Rachel's Grave" give you plenty of good stuff to dig on, but "Well of Despair" kind of drags, while the "The Dead's Last March" is miles better. After a short instrumental, you get the nine-minute closer "Kismet" to round out the album on an epic and classy note.

If you have been hoping for the return of this band, then this is it. If you have been worried their new album could not live up to their past glories, well, it doesn't quite, but it is still really good.