In early 2023, Anthony Conn began Altarheart as a solo venture in Charleston, West Virginia. This saw a number of singles alongside a full-length release, Deny Thyself, before bringing his brother Alex into the fold on the drums.
October 2024 saw the new-look Altarheart release EP Creatures Here Below, and now we have a full-length offering of 12 tracks spanning around 46 minutes to get our teeth into, and joining the party is Scapegoat, who provides vocals on ‘Mortal Man ‘, and Michael Grice, who provides guest vocals on ‘Weaken My Flesh’
As soon as you press play and are greeted by ‘Wayward’, you hear an instrumental before modern metalcore begins to assault your eardrums. But please don’t pigeonhole what you are about to hear, as there are so many other aspects to this sound.
As the album progresses, there are Proggy sections, melodic and atmospheric sounds, and it is an all-round complete sound and feeling. There are even some electronic elements at points; clearly,y Altarheart is about the music rather than the genre label – this is something I get firmly behind.
The music is aggressive, unrelenting, unapologetic, and precise, as the vocals follow the feeling of the music, be that aggressive or a little more serene, but overall it is a heavy, growling vocal that joins the sounds and pushes everything a little heavier.
When you consider that this is a 2-piece band, the end product is very impressive – throw in the fact that production is in-house as well – and it’s something any band would be very proud of, let alone brothers putting together a great album.
There is no denying that a lot of music is being released that follows a similar sound. Still, Altarheart have enough to set themselves apart from those bands and put themselves above them by using the sounds and atmospherics – this album has more feeling than most, and that is quite rare.
Prone to Wander is a solid slab of metal that will not only introduce the band to a larger crowd (me included) but also continue its climb up the ladder and gig lineups.
I would encourage you to grab this, give it a spin, then another, and repeat until the next release is available!
Prone To Wander will be released on Friday, September 25th 2026 via Rottweiler Records.
Review: Ed Ford
Tracklist
01 – Wayward
02 – Mortal Man (feat. Scapegoat)
03 – Not Well
04 – Rustbelt
05 – Consider The Lillies
06 – Low Souls
07 – Brother, Sister
08 – Weaken My Flesh (feat. Michael Grice)
09 – Streets Of Mould
10 – Island Of One
11 – Reconcile
12 – For Those Who Have Wandered Away
Line up:
Anthony Conn – Guitars, Bass, Vocals
Alex Conn – Drums
Additional vocals on ‘Mortal Man’ by Scapegoat
Additional vocals on ‘Weaken My Flesh’ by Michael Grice
For fans of: Bring Me The Horizon | August Burns Red | Refiner | The Light Superior
Online
https://www.facebook.com/AltarheartMusic
https://www.instagram.com/altarheart_music/
https://altarheartrr.bandcamp.com
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6qOTpOOQd1BxRIH3Tzvnhk
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/altarheart/1696371764
https://www.rottweilerrecords.com/
https://www.facebook.com/RottweilerRecords/
https://www.youtube.com/c/RottweilerRecordsOfficialYouTubeChannel
https://rottweilerrecords.bandcamp.com/artists
https://www.instagram.com/rottweiler.records
