Paul Allender (born 17 November 1970) is a

lead guitarist Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featured ...

best known for his work with the British

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...

band

Cradle of Filth Cradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band formed in Suffolk in 1991. The band's musical style evolved originally from black metal to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic metal and other metal genres. Their ly ...

. He was a longtime member with stints in the band from 1992–1995 and then again from 1999–2014.

Cradle of Filth

He joined the band as the guitarist late 1991, and stayed until late 1994 when he left Cradle of Filth to join The Blood Divine. In 1998 Paul Allender started another band called Primary Slave. In 2000, just before Primary Slave signed a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

, he rejoined Cradle of Filth on the band's album, ''

Midian Midian (; he, מִדְיָן ''Mīḏyān'' ; ar, مَدْيَن, Madyan; grc-gre, Μαδιάμ, ''Madiam'') is a geographical place mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and Quran. William G. Dever states that biblical Midian was in the "northwest Ar ...

'' after receiving a call from

Dani Filth Daniel Lloyd Davey (born 25 July 1973), known professionally as Dani Filth, is a British singer who is the vocalist, lyricist and founding member of the extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. He has a five-octave vocal range. Personal life Danie ...

, along with drummer

Adrian Erlandsson Adrian Erlandsson (born 27 October 1970) is a Swedish heavy metal drummer who is a member of At the Gates (1990–1996, 2007–2008, 2010–), the Haunted (1996–1999, 2013–), and Nemhain (2006–). He has also been a member of H.E.A.L. ...

and keyboardist

Martin Powell Martin Powell is an English musician. In 1991, Powell auditioned for the position of bass player in the band My Dying Bride, but was turned down as the band had just filled the position. Upon informing the band he was also a violin and keyboard ...

. As of April 2014 Paul Allender has once again left Cradle of Filth.

Playing style

Paul Allender is recognised for his unique right-handed technique and is currently endorsed by PRS Guitars,

RotoSound Rotosound is a British guitar and bass string manufacturing company based in England. History Rotosound was started in the late 1950s by James How, a musician and engineer by trade. How started manufacturing music strings for many famous arti ...

and Blackstar amplification. "To tell you the truth... I don't jam. I've always played what actually I see in my head. Therefore, when I play, I don't use any specific scales or anything in order or that's musically correct or anything... I’ve always concentrated on mixing lead-oriented riffs, but in like a rhythmic sense. That's the way I've always been because I've never really been interested in doing ultra-fast lead work. I've always mixed the two up. Just concentrating on the 16th notes and stuff on the right hand, making sure it all sinks in. It's the guitar and it's the way we dress onstage, it's all part of this troupe, this uniformed-like togetherness... It just comes out dark as fuck".

Graphic art

Allender also has an art side project known as "Vomitorium: The Dark Art Of Cindy Frey And Paul Allender". He also produced the artwork for New Project's debut album ''Ultraviolent Light''.

White Empress

In 2013, Allender was involved with the formation of a new project named "White Empress". In an interview with "The Age of Metal", White Empress vocalist Mary Zimmer (formerly of

Luna Mortis Luna Mortis, formerly The Ottoman Empire, was an American heavy metal band based in Madison, Wisconsin. The band was formed in late 2001 in Monroe, Wisconsin as The Ottoman Empire. In 2006, the band self-released their debut studio album, '' Wa ...

), said: An EP was released in January 2014. Their debut album - ''Rise of the Empress'' - was released through Peaceville Records on 29 September 2014. It was initially funded through a

Pledge Music PledgeMusic was an online direct-to-fan music platform, launched in August 2009. It was started to facilitate musicians looking to pre-sell, market, and distribute projects; such as recordings and concerts. It bore similarities to other artist p ...

campaign. In 2016, Allender changed the direction of the project, removing all of the singing and replacing it with narration. The band then had the style of a horror audiobook with cinematic film. White Empress released the single "Revenant" in 2016, and then went on indefinite hiatus.

References

External links

TD Guitar video
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allender, Paul 1970 births Cradle of Filth members English heavy metal guitarists Lead guitarists Living people People from Colchester