• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Allure of the Fallen is the third full-length from the U.K.'s Horrified and it finds main man Dan Alderson and crew moving further away from the old-school Death Metal of their early releases. There is a clear epic vibe running through the album, interspersed with the more mainstream Death Metal the band has been known for. Alderson's vocals are a tortured howl that are laced with echo giving them a "screaming across time" feel. The songwriting features more slower tempos and uncomplicated playing such as the huge, lonely chords that open the album on "Allure of the Fallen" and close it out on "The Promise of Solace." There's plenty of speed and aggression but it's more evenly balanced with atmospheric grandeur and it all comes together on "Unanswered," the album's highlight. This one expertly builds off a melodic bass line, simple chords and light cymbals to a chaotic crescendo that plays fast and loose with tempo changes, but never loses its way. There's an otherworldly quality in this song, and others, that are not dissimilar to some of the Pagan/Black Metal out there, not a bad thing in my book.

I found the vocals a tad too tortured for my taste and a couple of solos that were too discordant to my ears but that's just me and the album, as a whole, is tight and has a huge sound. Horrified is becoming one of those bands that defies genre, or at least straddles lines, giving listeners something different with each album. Allure of the Fallen has taken more than the usual number of spins to sink in but it was well worth the time.