Temple of the Void : " the World That Was "

I got tired of the death doom band wagon every one was jumping on so I dis regarded this one when it showed up in my in-box. I regret doing that as holy shit this album is good. It is dark as fuck and darkness is what I listen for. I was reading an interview with the band and they were talking about the different influences that went into this album and how they were pulling from bands like Alice in Chains and Ride as much as they were Morbid Angel, so how could I not check it out. Yes I do hear those elements. They are done in a way that doesn't take the focus off the death metal back bone of the album. The guitars just use more sonic colors and carry more emotive sounds. Mood wise there is doom, along with the fact they are not blazing at you with a wall of double bass, but the aggression in the chugs of the guitar and the weight of their attack along with the growl of the vocals are all death metal .

Synths play a bigger role on the song " Leave the Light Behind". This one doesn't drag like a doom band, but finds them in a swinging march forward. It also finds them using sung vocals on the chorus. They are more shoe gaze / goth like vocals than the grunge feel some of the guitar melodies carry. I can hear some Entombed influence thrown in as well. They even finds themselves in a pretty aggressive chug midway into this song.  The other places they draw from fit well within the balance of the metal context they are put in. They continue to gain momentum picking up the pace even more on "Casket of Shame" . They are in the more conventional bounds of metal on this one. The lyrics are easy to make out given the articulate rasp of the vocals . The drumming owes more to classic metal on this song. It continues to gain speed until they finds them selves locked into a more thrash like chug.

Going into the title track that closes the album the sorrowful tone to the guitar melodies does have a more Paradise Lost feel, perhaps even doomy enough to cross over into My Dying Bride territory . By My Dying Bride I am talking about "Turn Loose the Swans " not their wimpy new stuff. The keyboards help lend more weight to this comparison. The lyrics are very timely. This song might not grab me as hard as the others  but I will still round this one up to a 10 as it might just need to grow on me. We are just in March, and given the current state of the world who knows how it is going to effect new releases, so this could find it self in the top 10 metal albums of the year if we live til December. I am fine with not making it til December , I can not claim to be into death metal  if I am afraid of death, so if I die and you find this review in December then call it the best death metal album of the year . If I am still alive , I plan on devoting June to death metal , so things might change. Comes out March 27th on Shadow Kingdom.