North-East England-based death metallers Horrified are about to have their second album ‘Of Despair’ released on CD by Stormspell Records. It’s an album that sees the band shifting musical direction and fully embracing their Swedish influences, taking the listener back to the mid-’90s evoking the atmosphere of albums such as ‘Far Away From The Sun’ by Sacramentum and the sophomore albums by Dissection and Necrophobic. Even the album cover – by Raul Gonzalez – looks like it could have been drawn circa 1994. Dan Alderson, the band’s frontman and lead guitarist was interrogated about his band’s walk down the left-hand path.

You have just recorded your second album, what can the readers expect from it?
“It’s dynamic, melodic and ripping death metal which is equally as savage as it’s emotionally involving. The earlier material for Horrified was wrote when I was quite younger, I think as we grow up our musical taste also evolves and changes, which was one element which inspired the evolution on this album. I also wanted to make the album a lot more impactful.
“Edge Of Sanity has been my favourite band for a long time, so melodic death metal has always been one of my favourite styles, this just seemed to seep into the material when I was writing the music for ‘Of Despair’ whilst going through a turbulent time and thus the material manifested itself naturally.
“Performance, production and the compositions are all improved tenfold on the new album compared to the debut. As I mentioned, I wanted this album to be unique as possible and have its own identity. I want this album to really resonate with people.”

The album is due for release on Stormspell Records soon how did this deal come about?
“I actually only sent Danny from Stormspell the private stream to see if he would be able to suggest us any labels to send to and he was taken back with the release so he offered us a deal for CD. As of now tape and vinyl versions are also coming out via Till You Fukkin Bleed and Infernal Devastation respectfully.”

The album was self produced by yourself but mixed and mastered by Damien from Horrendous. Why did you choose him for that task and what do you think he contributes to your sound overall?
“I’ve always been a big fan of Damian’s work, ever since I discovered his studio back when ‘The Chills’ was first released in 2012. When I heard ‘Ecdysis’, I knew I wanted him to handle the post-production for this album. Horrendous have been an influence on us as well obviously with this album and Damian is a big fan of melodic death, so I knew he would be really familiar with our source material and know exactly where to take it sonically. I think he did a superb job putting our sound in line with our influences.”

The art was done by Raul Gonzalez, why did you choose him and what did you want to conjure up with the new album cover?
“Again, I discovered Raul from his painting for ‘The Chills’ and then his work for Morbus Chron, the Sarcasm reissue, Lacreation etc. I love his style and we needed an ornate colour scheme for this album and he delivered.”

Please tell us about the title and lyrical subjects on the album. What inspires you to put pen to paper?
“The lyrics are mostly inspired by dark fantasy literature and are used as a veil to express the darkest and worst emotions we are inflicted with as people.”

Do you plan to play live much in support of the new album?
“As much as possible, we have a tour planned in April with Skelethal and Decrepid and will try to play as many shows as possible when we are asked to play throughout the year.”