HORRORGRAPHY were formed in 2017 and they are from Athens, Greece. They play a mixture of symphonic Doom and Death Metal and release their third full-length album. “A Knight’s Tale” was produced, mixed, and mastered by Dimitris Sakkas (SOCIAL SCREAM), and has a length of more than 48 minutes. The album was released via Italian Death, Thrash, and Gothic Metal specialists WormHoleDeath. After the cinematic and tension-building intro “Reputation And Honour”, the album kick-starts with the dark song “Prison”. “Prison” has its own little piano-driven intro transitioning into a track at a measured tempo. The melodies are grim, and they are driven by the mixture of guitar riffing and prominent orchestral arrangements using the brass, the strings, and the piano. The vocals are multi-layered ranging from growling male vocals to clean female vocals. It is a whole range of vocals, there are deeper lying growls, higher growls and screams, while the clean female vocals range between the medium to higher end of the vocal range. Speaking about the vocals, “Prison” got vocal support by Snowy Shaw (MAD ARCHITECT). It is a chilling start to the album, and this atmosphere is intensified by the pre-lude to “Theseus”, where again the orchestral arrangements are leading the track alongside the guitar riffing. The growling vocals are again two-parted with deep growls and screams alternating. The clean female vocals also have an important impact on the track. The melodic framework is very diverse ranging from gloomy to more operatic parts. “Theseus” is in principle a mini opera consisting of several distinct episodes, where the music is a mixture of the orchestra on one side and the guitars and drums on the other side. Altogether, “Theseus” is with more than eight minutes playing time among the longer album tracks.

 “Palamon” has a slow start, initially with the orchestral arrangements and the female vocals. As time goes by more and more instruments join in including powerful guitar riffing and the deep lying growling vocals. A feature of the album are the spoken words, which have their place at almost every song. Another album feature is the complexity of the songs with many twists and turn in tempo, rhythm, song textures and instruments contributing to the track. “Palamon” has many operatic features as well as crushing Death Metal parts in it, where the higher lying growls are leading the charge. “Destiny” has a doom-laden start with grim and crushing guitar riffing at a slow and measured tempo. It is again a track that is very much dominated by the individual vocalist,s with the instruments and the orchestral arrangements serving to support the vocals. There are some parts where there are almost no arrangements, while in other parts they are more prominent. “Destiny” has so many different dimensions in vocals that I lost count. The same holds true for the sound ranging from operatic to devastating Death Metal parts at blistering pace. “Destiny” is the official video release, and the YouTube link is provided below.

 After the short inter-lude “Fate”, “Under The Sun” starts ballad-esque with melancholic guitar melodies and the female vocals driving the song forward. It is perhaps the most straightforward song on the album with a simple song structure. As time goes by, the song loses the character of a ballad a bit, however, the melodic framework is maintained, while all vocalists have the opportunity to shine. The track is a bit two-parted in terms of instrument contribution. While at the beginning, the orchestral arrangements are hardly notable, they are leading the track during the its later stage. The finale of the song is devastating with a combination of orchestra, flesh-ripping guitar riffing and the growling vocals. Despite the ending, I would still think “Under The Sun” is that what comes nearest to a melancholic ballad. “The Morning Gray” has a gentle start with the piano, the strings, and the female vocals. They are joined by the guitars, which provide the melodies together with the strings, while the female vocals are joined by clean male vocals. At the beginning of the second half, the track changes its character, and the Death Metal vibes join in. The track is then driven by crushing riffs as well as growls and screams from the abyss at mid-tempo. The punishing Death Metal attacks are interrupted by the orchestral arrangements and the operatic female vocals a few times. Again, “The Morning Gray” is an opera on its own and with about nine minutes the longest track of the album. “The End” is the final act and it is a short end as it is the dark after-lude of the album.

 HORRORGRAPHY do not deliver a mainstream Metal album. “A Knight’s Tale” is in principle a Metal opera with nine different episodes. Many of the songs are very complex, making the album not easy to listen to. The strength of the album is the ability of the songwriters to fit in all vocalists and integrate their vocal strengths into the songs. The melodic framework of the songs is spine-chilling. The album is well produced. The music of HORRORGRAPHY requires time to listen to. “A Knight’s Tale” is a complex album for symphonic Metal fans who like a Doom and Death Metal twist.