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If you’ve heard of TEMPLE OF VOID during your travels, then you should be aware of what they are all about. The Michigan natives have created quite the name for themselves in the metal world with their blended sound of death and doom and have become known for their penchant for writing seismic riffs and grooves, then moulding them with down tempo rhythms to create something altogether more hellacious. Over the course of their near-decade long career the band have stepped up with quality release after release and now look to continue their musical ascension with their fourth full-length Summoning The Slayer.
With the opening track Behind The Eye the band set about business as usual with a slew of old school death metal riffs and growls in the vein of the classics such as MORBID ANGEL and DEICIDE. The production is clean and precise without sacrificing any of the raw power behind the music and allows everything to breathe as it should. However, in true TEMPLE OF VOID fashion the band don’t allow the listener to get comfortable and throw in the breath-taking Deathtouch – an eight-minute, brooding atmospheric doom song that ebbs and flows for its duration, trapping the listener in its swell of ethereal guitar leads and constantly shifting dynamics. This is suffocating in its nature and truly remarkable.
It’s safe to say that TEMPLE OF VOID excel at both sides of their death and doom metal influence. However, it is in the slower and more suffocating moments that they truly come in to their own. An example of this fact is in the album highlight A Sequence Of Rot – a near on six-minute testament to the crushing heaviness that can be found in the slowest forms of metal music. The bass tone is earth-shaking, the guitars are crushingly heavy and well-orchestrated; add in to that the booming drums and spot on mix and you have all of the elements for a truly remarkable death-doom opus.
In the latter stages of the album we find The Transcending Horror, which is yet another example of how the band have developed as songwriters throughout their career. The use of melody created by the guitars adds texture to track whilst the guttural vocals and rumbling bass work together to create the heavyweight distorted platform that has become so important to the band’s sound. There is a section in the centre of the track where the band almost venture into progressive metal territory, with the use of shifting dynamics and movement between clean and heavily distorted guitars, all of which are soaked in various effects, proving that they have plenty of ideas in their collective bag of tricks to keep things interesting. Then again, there is no substitute for the raw heaviness that sees the track through to its conclusion, a real headbanging moment that is going to create plenty of interaction from fans in the live setting where the band have proved time and time again how powerful they truly are.
Summoning The Slayer is the next logical step for a band that is on the ascension (as previously mentioned). They have tweaked things subtly without messing with their overall formula and have created a body of work that is as intriguing as it is comfortingly familiar. If they continue on this sort of form moving forward, then the sky is the limit for these lads. The world is starting to take notice and TEMPLE OF VOID aren’t about to let their fans down; they are intent on keeping the gloomy times rolling. Do not sleep on this.
Rating: 8/10
Summoning The Slayer is out now via Relapse Records.
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The post ALBUM REVIEW: Summoning The Slayer – Temple Of Void appeared first on Distorted Sound Magazine.
