Temple Nightside "The Hecatomb"
It is testimony to how quick metal moves in styles when I find myself now listening to releases and writing of how the sound is a throwback to Portal, when only a couple of years ago the cavernous and distorted musings of every other DM release gave a firm nod to the Australian connoisseurs of such beastly sounds. As with all things new (trying to avoid the use of "sub-genre" as a term) the market soon became saturated as everybody was trying to "out-squid" everybody else.
It wasn't exactly with open arms that I welcomed the press release gubbins surrounding Temple Nightside's latest release to the realm of Eminent Silence.
In fairness I am only half right. The majority of "The Hecatomb" is a distorted and murky affair, yet somehow there is enough distance between the density and the instrumentation to suggest something a little more coherent going on also.
Despite the obvious influences Temple Nightside's sound is cleaner and more structured than the average proponent of this normally loose and untechnical style. There's also a more ritualistic feel to proceedings, with the vocals cleverly using that cavernous echo to good effect in invoking the feeling of some occult sacrifice being undertaken by some genuinely evil bastards as opposed to bored accountants from Great Yarmouth playing at being Druids.
It wasn't exactly with open arms that I welcomed the press release gubbins surrounding Temple Nightside's latest release to the realm of Eminent Silence.
It's tangibly still death metal in nature, but there's a certain sinister sensation that eludes conventionally metallic definition; its hulking plod gives way to bestial pulse and then evaporates into a smokestack-dense fog of frightening, palpable evil.Translation? This sounds like a hundred other Portal worshippers out there, and when I looked at the "all-star" underground line-up including members of Blasphemy, Grave Upheaval and III Omen - to mention but a few - I didn't hold out much hope either for anything refreshing.
In fairness I am only half right. The majority of "The Hecatomb" is a distorted and murky affair, yet somehow there is enough distance between the density and the instrumentation to suggest something a little more coherent going on also.
Despite the obvious influences Temple Nightside's sound is cleaner and more structured than the average proponent of this normally loose and untechnical style. There's also a more ritualistic feel to proceedings, with the vocals cleverly using that cavernous echo to good effect in invoking the feeling of some occult sacrifice being undertaken by some genuinely evil bastards as opposed to bored accountants from Great Yarmouth playing at being Druids.
To add a little variety there are also three "dark ambient" tracks ("Commune 3.1 - 3.3") which break up the incoherence nicely enough without appearing intrusive or alien. Doing a track-by-track review is however a little pointless as the majority of the release is very similar, leading me to feel it is largely the same blueprint only with some cleaner and more accessible moments to spark the earholes in the otherwise endless nightmare of unrelenting bleak and evil music.
It isn't that this is done badly, in fact it is as solid a, "influences on sleeves" homage to the darker sounds of modern DM as you could hope for. The reality for me is that I am starting to find this style a little uninspiring nowadays.
3/5
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