Review Summary: Allfader's sophomore attempt gives us great songs and some so so songs, however the good is so good, that it outweighs the so so, great album, and definitely give it a listen.
I am yet to listen Allfader's first album, but if it is at least half as good as this one, then I already can say it's a steal. Combining black metal drum beats with ferocious melodic death metal guitars Allfader have created a sound that is reminiscent of
Behemoth and
Amon Amarth
The album opens strongly with a track entitled "Harbingers Of Night" that has a great hook to it, and shows of the band's ability to create songs that are almost catchy, yet still heavy and very much enjoyable.
From there on album continues to surprise us with great tracks that are all easy to listen if you like metal and a great introduction for someone to a bit more extreme kind of metal.
Allfader themselves are from Norway so this album through and through has Viking and Norse sensibilities, you will feel like drinking a horn of beer, taking some psychedelic mushrooms, getting dressed in your finest beer skins and going berserk on someone's ass.
So far this review has been singing all praises, but there are some negatives too, first of all, at some points it feels like they lost their creativity and just started writing something from the book "Blackened Death Metal for Dummies". For me it shone through the most in song "Titan's March", song it self is good, however comparing it to the rest of album it just feels uninspired. Also at some points in the middle the album might drag a little, it has great opening song and two after that, and it has great ending, however the middle can seem uninspired, as I mentioned above.
Despite previous passage I still immensely recommend this album to everyone who is into extreme genres of metal, it is a good listen and is worth since there are only two songs that are not up to par with the rest.
Pros.:
+Great songs like Harbingers of Night, Black Blood Flux (part II)
+Great for going to war with
+Enjoyable album cover
Cons.:
-Uninspired middle part
-Can drag at some points
-Parts feel generic
Overall definitely worth a four out five rating - 4/5
