Misplaced Pages

This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. Find sources: "Lee Altus" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Lee AltusЛі Альтус
Altus with Heathen at Hellfest 2013
Background information
Birth name	Leonid Altus
Born	(1966-05-13) May 13, 1966 (age 58) Odesa, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine)
Genres	Thrash metal speed metal industrial metal heavy metal
Occupations	Musician songwriter
Instrument	Guitar
Years active	1986–present
Member of	Heathen Exodus
Formerly of	Die Krupps Angel Witch

Lee Altus (born Leonid Altus, May 13, 1966) is a 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. 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.

In 2001, Altus reunited Heathen along with Minter, vocalist Dave White, bassist Mike Jastremski and guitarist Ira Black. 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 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 (2005), The Atrocity Exhibition (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 was born Leonid Altus on May 13, 1966 in Odesa, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine). Lee is a longtime fan of the Philadelphia Flyers NHL franchise, including wearing Flyers shirts while headlining the 2020 70,000 Tons of Metal festival.

Equipment

Altus currently endorses ESP Guitars, though he used to play Jackson King V guitars. Altus was a long time user of Mesa/Boogie Amplifiers as well, but is currently an ENGL endorsee.

Notes

1. Ukrainian: Лі Альтус, romanized: Li Altus
2. Ukrainian: Леонід Альтус, romanized: Leonid Altus

References

1. "Biography: Die Krupps". AllMusic. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
2. "Professionals". ENGL Amplification. Archived from the original on October 3, 2014. Retrieved September 28, 2014.

External links

• Media related to Lee Altus at Wikimedia Commons
• Interview with Lee Altus and his mother from CBS News, 1987

This article on a U.S. metal guitarist is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• 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
• Thrash metal musicians
• American heavy metal guitarist stubs