Altar of Bones (Worship Version)

The final recording associated with Circle of Crows: Flesh Eater remains one of the most disputed and mysterious chapters surrounding the project. Unlike the previous compositions, which established the mythology of the Circle of Crows through narrative and atmosphere, "Altar of Bones" presents itself as something closer to a ritual recording, with portions of its creation surrounded by conflicting accounts and unanswered questions.

According to individuals involved with the recording sessions, sections of the track were recorded inside the rear compartment of a black van used by an unidentified group accompanying The Dead Broken Heart during production in West Virginia. These accounts describe members of the group recording individual vocal passages that were later characterized as incantations, reportedly read from a 16th-century text concerning witchcraft.

Jacobs later combined and processed these recordings, transforming the individual vocal performances into the layered chanting elements heard throughout the composition. The exact meaning of the chants has never been publicly explained, leaving listeners and commentators to interpret the vocal passages through the mythology established throughout the Circle of Crows narrative.

Additional accounts from personnel working at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum have contributed further uncertainty surrounding the recording period. According to these reports, a security guard assigned to the facility during the sessions reportedly became seriously ill before later falling from a balcony inside the building. No official statement regarding the incident, or any possible connection to the recording process, has been released.

Witnesses have also claimed that a damaged pig's skull was discovered near the facility's main entrance following the completion of the sessions. According to these accounts, the skull was accompanied by a large circle drawn in red chalk, which was later removed by facility staff. Although "Altar of Bones" contains no direct reference to such an object, some listeners have connected the image to the song's repeated themes of ritual, sacrifice, and the lyric "consume the bones."

The uncertainty surrounding the recording has also extended into discussions from those associated with P&B Fortezza Records. Representatives of the label have described the period surrounding the creation of Circle of Crows: Flesh Eater as an unusually intense period of creative output.

In an interview discussing the project, vice president Enzo Belladonna stated, "If this is what a mental collapse looks like from a music artist, then I frankly hope he fully loses his mind. Whatever Kareem is communicating with is definitely not from this world, but he's creating some amazing records."

Chief executive officer Salvatore De Luca later offered a similarly conflicted statement, saying, "Of course I care about Jacobs' mental health, but I'm in the record business and producing records makes money, and he's been producing records like a damn robot, so who am I to stop him?"

As the closing composition of Circle of Crows: Flesh Eater, "Altar of Bones" completes the transformation of the trilogy's mythology from a story of violence into one of devotion. The Circle of Crows is no longer presented simply as a group committing acts of brutality, but as a belief system built around ritual, symbolism, and a conviction that something beyond ordinary understanding has chosen them.

Whether the accounts surrounding the recording sessions are interpreted as fact, rumor, or part of the mythology itself, "Altar of Bones" remains the final surviving fragment of a world where the boundary between performance and ritual becomes increasingly difficult to define.