Horrified [UK] – Of Despair

Not to be confused with the Greek Horrified that released the excellent ‘In the Garden of Unearthly Delights’ album, this Horrified is from the UK. But I never could have guessed that from just listening to the music. Horrified sounds more like a rather melodic Swedeath metal band. With Martin van Drunen’s little brother on vocals, which causes me to think about Hail of Bullets more than once. I already had their 2013 demo ‘Carcinogenic Feasting’ in my possession, and compared to that release, it’s obvious they toned down a little on the brutality. They already did that on their first album ‘Descent into putridity’, and this time the balance again shifted a little more towards the melodic parts. Now don’t get me wrong, this is in no way a pussy record, there’s plenty of gorific death metal to enjoy. Just the production is already quite an improvement compared to the debut, more organic, which gives the music a sort of natural raw feel. Damian Herring, who previously worked on the likes of Decrepitaph and Father Befouled, did a fine job in making everything fall into place. It’s always a good thing to see a band develop and improve, taking steps. But if they really want to set themselves apart from the grey mass, they still have to do a little more. There are some good ideas, nice melodies, but I don’t really hear those killer songs yet that give them just that little extra. Only the future can tell if Horrified really has the quality to keep growing. (Stijn)