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En Hakkore Records – EHKCD003
- Epic Brazilian Prog Power Metal
- Elite packaging - 16-page lyrics insert, jewel case, wrapped in cardboard collector's sleeve (O-ring)
- "Millennium Kingdom" Featuring – Rob Rock (Impellitteri)
- "Follow Me" Featuring – Christian Liljegren
- Recommended for fans of Theocracy, Angra, Symphony X, Kamelot and Stratovarius
ABOUT THE ALBUM
Allos is one of the leading names in Brazilian melodic metal. Formed in 2003, the band has shared the stage with the likes of Angra, Stryper, Narnia and Petra. The years have seen then hone their own blend of power metal with progressive and neo-classical influences, a contemporary approach that integrates everything we love about this genre.
Everything about Allos screams of excellence. The vocal talent of Celso Alves is incredible – he is unquestionably on par with the other greats of the scene and is perfectly suited to the Allos sound. Then the musicianship of the rest of the band – Junior Oliveira (guitars), Edley Winderson (bass) and Wallace Ryan (drums) – takes the band to the next level. Their care taken with the intricate arrangements, the recording, the execution of the songs, the production… everything is well-crafted. However, it is not a matter of form over function – Allos are very competent in combining technique and feeling and take the listener on a musical journey of the mind and soul.
The brand new Allos album “Strong Delusion”, was recorded at the renowned Sonastério Studios (where Angra recorded last year’s “Cycles Of Pain” album). Bruno Barros shared production with the band, Viktor Stenquist (Narnia) did the mixing and Thomas “Plec” Johansson (The Panic Room, Sweden) was in charge of mastering. “Strong Delusion” raises the bar even higher – every facet of this release is steeped in quality. As testament to the high standard of music created, Christian Liljregen (Narnia) and Rob Rock have both made an appearance as guest vocalists, cementing Allos’ place amongst melodic metal royalty.
Recommended for fans of Theocracy, Angra, Symphony X, Kamelot and Stratovarius.
01 The Pilgrim's Progress 2:33
02 Follow Me Featuring – Christian Liljegren 4:14
03 All Your Days 4:50
04 Tele Visione Of Reality 4:55
05 Suffering And Evil 5:30
06 Inferno 6:44
07 Letter From Heaven 4:44
08 Inhuman Mind 4:45
09 Strong Delusion 5:45
10 System Collapse 4:42
11 Millennium Kingdom Featuring – Rob Rock 5:37
12 For The Centuries 3:56
METAL RULES CD REVIEW
Allos are a progressive/power metal band from Brazil and on En Hakkore Records, who formed in 2003. The act who are known for their Christian lyrical themes, will be releasing their album ‘Strong Delusion’ on the 4th of October 2024. It is their first full length effort since debut album ‘Spiritual Battle’ was released in 2012. However, the act did release two singles in 2024, those being ‘Tele Visione of Reality’ and ‘All Your Days’. (Also found in Strong Delusion). As it apparently takes them 10 or so years to finish an album (unless the band are lazy/have other things in life going on for them), is it worth the wait? Read on!
First impressions? Yes, yes, yes! This album has EVERYTHING you could ever want in a symphonic metal band, consistently beautiful harmonies, plenty of gorgeous melodies (hopefully the band won’t take offence if I call some ‘pretty’ :P), a ton of speedy excitement and impressive, tight and expressive performances from all musicians! Yes, the band play in a similar style to Rhapsody/Rhapsody of Fire, and the vocal melodies sometimes bring to mind Sonata Arctica, but the music is just so well done, it doesn’t even matter. Is there a single thing I’d change in the first three tracks? It’s a tough one. Even the guitar solos are hard to criticise. The genre the band play in are known for seriously OTT (some would say ‘rubbish’) solos, but such ideas are very strong with Allos. You DO get flashiness in the leads, but certainly not to the point it sounds off-putting. Think of shredding as spice. Yngwie Malmsteen? Too much spice, rather like a chilli pepper.
The opening of fourth track ‘Tele Visione of Reality’ took me by surprise as it’s much heavier than the prior songs, with the Pantera style groove metal riff, but what I really liked was the new-ish, yet still pleasingly consistent mystical and surreal harmonies, kind of think Rammstein’s more adventurous songs such as ‘Liebe ist fur alle da’, but taken up a notch or two in terms of complexity, here. 6th track ‘Inferno’ has some proggier rhythms, but those dreamy chord progressions make the sound consistent and satisfying. The song ends with darker harmonies, providing just the right amount of contrast and stopping the surreal nature of the music becoming tired.
7th track ‘Letter From Heaven’ is softer, stopping the heavier instrumentations becoming tired this time, it’s as if these guys know exactly how their music is perceived and switch styles at just the right time. Maybe the vocal melodies get just a little bit predictable at this point in the album and could do with some more daring note choices, but it’s a relatively minor issue and it’s the only thing that is bugging me slightly. Will the band redeem themselves? Let’s find out. Track 8, ‘In Human Mind’ IS a genuinely solid song that I do enjoy a lot, really, but now not only are the vocals getting annoying, so are the dreamlike chords. A great shame, as I really was hoping to give these people a perfect score. I appreciated the darker sections and the epic solos, but it was too late… things had been spoiled. Even simply having more instrumental sections could have helped things.
‘Strong Delusion’ has a more upbeat Helloween style in places which is cool, but it’s at this point the samey vocal style is annoying me rather noticeably. Maybe singing in lower registers for example could have improved things. ‘System Collapse’ has some classical-style choirs which work well, but maybe they would work better if they replaced the lead vocalist for a fair bit longer, to stop him from becoming tired. Who am I to complain though, right? My writing is getting repetitive, too! And it’s not going to get better. ‘Millennium Kingdom’ has a slightly more dramatic singing style at times which is the kind of thing I would have liked earlier, but it could have been taken further. The choir backing kind of reminds me of Rhapsody’s ‘Echoes of Tragedy’, but only a little. I hate to bring up singing again, but final track ‘For the Centuries’ has a gentler style that works very well. It’s a very pleasing piece of music and a poignant, and at times slightly uplifting way to end things.
To conclude, there is never a MASSIVELY dull moment with the album which is pretty unusual. At the time of writing the bio and having not listened to the music, I compared the band to the famously gifted band Tool jokingly, actually Allos have produced an album that I consider to be a near flawless symphonic metal experience. Some of the vocal melodies the frontman sings are really beautiful and are most definitely worth giving many repeated listens, which isn’t something I can’t often say for many styles of music. Maybe the album could have done with some more genre fusions as the ones you do get work well, but yeah, what I really wanted were more adventurous tunes. All in all, strongly recommended, and a piece of work I consider to be superior to much of Rhapsody’s material at least in some ways!
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