Condemnation
2013 Dark Descent / Nuclear Winter Records
Claustrophobic death metal seems to be all the rage these days, and Temple Nightside is one of the better bands in the style. Combining echoing Incantation style guitar riffs with blasting drums and vocals from the lower bowels of Hell, they've put together something that will haunt you well after you hear the last note of the last song. The slower tracks, such as "Exhumation: Miseries upon Imprecation," have a kind of "lurching" feeling to them, conjuring forth the image of some hulking trollish entity... shuffling through an endless black labyrinth, dragging heavy chains behind itself for the rest of its pitiful existence. The despair he feels is of the slow burning variety that runs deep. So it is with the music of Temple Nightside. Heavy on the atmosphere, heavy on the feeling. Yet not lightweight with the other aspects of their sound. I'd expect nothing less from a couple of deranged guys from Australia, as their country practically invented this style. Want further evidence? OK, between the two of them, they've done time in bands like Naxzul, Backyard Mortuary and Pestilential Shadows... plus a small host of others I've never heard of until now. Definitely one of the better albums I've heard in the final quarter of 2013.
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