Lee Altus is a Ukrainian-American heavy metal guitarist currently playing in Exodus and Heathen.

Career

Altus first came to public attention in the mid-1980s with his original band, Heathen. He served as the principal songwriter and a founding member of Heathen playing on all four of their LPs, '' Breaking the Silence'', '' Victims of Deception'', '' The Evolution of Chaos'' and '' Empire of the Blind''. In 1990, Altus was considered for the position in Megadeth vacated by Jeff Young, but declined, and the job was given instead to

Marty Friedman Marty Friedman (born December 8, 1962) is an American guitarist, best known for his tenure as the lead guitarist for thrash metal band Megadeth from 1990 to 2000. He is also known for playing alongside Jason Becker in Cacophony from 1986 unti ...

. He later became a permanent member of the band Exodus. After Heathen broke up in 1992, Altus moved to Germany along with his fellow ex-Heathen members Doug Piercy and Darren Minter. Altus and Minter played in the industrial metal group Die Krupps for much of the remainder of the 1990s. He also participated in a reunited version of

Angel Witch Angel Witch are a British heavy metal band which formed in London in 1976 as part of the new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) movement. Biography Formation The band formed, originally under the name of Lucifer, of guitarist and vocalist ...

. In 2001, Altus reunited Heathen along with Minter, vocalist Dave White, bassist Mike Jastremski and guitarist

Ira Black Ira Barrie Black (March 18, 1941 – January 10, 2006) was an American physician and neuroscientist who was an advocate of stem cell research and was the first director of the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey at Robert Wood Johnson Medical ...

. The band put out an EP entitled ''Recovered'', made up of rare material and, with a new second guitarist and bassist, in 2010 released '' The Evolution of Chaos'', followed a decade later by '' Empire of the Blind'' (2020). Altus has been a member of the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

thrash metal band Exodus since 2005, replacing longtime guitarist Rick Hunolt. To date, Altus has performed on six studio albums with Exodus: ''

Shovel Headed Kill Machine ''Shovel Headed Kill Machine'' is the seventh studio album by the American thrash metal band Exodus (American band), Exodus, released on October 4, 2005 through Nuclear Blast. It's the first album to feature new vocalist Rob Dukes, after the dep ...

'' (2005), ''

The Atrocity Exhibition ''The Atrocity Exhibition'' is an experimental novel of linked stories or "condensed novels" by British writer J. G. Ballard. The book was originally published in the UK in 1970 by Jonathan Cape. After a 1970 edition by Doubleday & Company ...

'' (2007), '' Let There Be Blood'' (2008), '' Exhibit B: The Human Condition'' (2010), '' Blood In, Blood Out'' (2014) and '' Persona Non Grata'' (2021).

Personal life

Lee is a longtime fan of the

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Well ...

NHL franchise, including wearing Flyers shirts while headlining the 2020 70,000 Tons of Metal festival.

Equipment

Altus currently endorses

ESP Guitars is a Japanese guitar manufacturer, primarily focused on the production of electric guitars and basses. They are based in both Tokyo and Los Angeles, with distinct product lines for each market. ESP Company manufactures instruments under severa ...

, though he used to play Jackson King V guitars. Altus was a long time user of

Mesa/Boogie Mesa/Boogie (also known as Mesa Engineering) is an American company in Petaluma, California, that manufactures amplifiers and other accessories for guitars and basses. It has been in operation since 1969. Mesa was started by Randall Smith as a sm ...

Amplifiers as well, but is currently an ENGL endorsee.

References

External links

*
Interview with Lee Altus and his mother
from CBS News, 1987 1966 births 20th-century American guitarists 21st-century American guitarists American heavy metal guitarists American people of Russian-Jewish descent Angel Witch members California Republicans Die Krupps members Exodus (American band) members Heathen (band) members Jewish heavy metal musicians Lead guitarists Living people Musicians from Odesa Ukrainian emigrants to the United States {{US-metal-guitarist-stub