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.

After Heathen broke up in 1992, Altus moved to Germany along with his fellow ex-Heathen members Doug Piercy and Darren Minter.

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.