Temple of Dread – Beyond Acheron
Temple Of Dread – Beyond Acheron
Testimony Records
Release Date: 11/08/23
Running Time: 45:40
Review by Victor Augusto
8/10
Maybe Death Metal is one of the musical styles that I’ve most listened to and if you also enjoy this kind of music, you probably know its evolution since the early days of the Tampa Florida explosion during the nineties. Considering the number of bands that gained a great notoriety along these decades, it’s natural to hear the addition of different elements to it, probably to survive in this harsh market. Sometimes, it can sound confusing when bands don’t have a good balance over it. Otherwise, when you know how to add different elements without losing your identity, the result can be good.
For the case of the Germans from the isolated isle of Spiekeroog, their maturity is the highlight of their fourth full album “Beyond Acheron” and it is exactly the surprise you are going to have. First, you can expect brutal Death Metal, like a blend of Obituary rawness, allied with the heaviness of Morbid Angel from Steve Tucker era, like the opening song ‘Beyond Acheron’ (after the intro). It’s a very straightforward way to show the best of this style with killer riffs and solos, but the band’s music goes really further.
The first surprise that made me really pay attention to the album is the progressiveness of ‘Damnation’. Probably it was because of the doomy intro with all darkness offered by the keyboards, but everything suddenly starts to get higher and higher by the good harmonies and melodies until it finishes in a Doom style again. As I said before, the way the band includes so many different elements in a good measure makes it so good that I immediately picked this track as my favourite one.
The next huge surprise for me is ‘Dance of Decay’. You are probably going to think that you are hearing another brutal amount of heaviness, and you indeed can hear it, but you also can hear a very dancing beat on the drums at some point. I don’t know if this dancing part was on purpose for the song title, but it really gives a good contrast to what you were hearing before. As a Brazilian metal head, I loved it, mainly because of the fact it has a very short dancing beat.
The versatility of Jörg Uken on drums is another good point. He always puts precise drum fills to break the blast beats, and all rhythmical changes are done very well throughout. I believe he put his best efforts on ‘Carnality Device’. This song is for those who don’t enjoy those different elements I’ve mentioned before, and you can expect a masterpiece work made by the three guys on the band in this track.
The lyrical content also is a bit different from what we are used to hearing. The band explains: “Lyrically, “Beyond Acheron” operates both within and at the same time beyond the genre’s traditional splatter-horizon. TEMPLE OF DREAD enjoy the continued support of their friend and word-smith, the psychologist Frank Albers, who has again delivered intelligent gory texts that revolve around antique myth and history featuring protagonists such as Icarus, Vulcan, Hades, Cleopatra, and Marcus Antonius aka Mark Anthony. Although “Beyond Acheron” is not a concept album, classical themes run like Ariadne’s red thread through all its aspects.”
As you can see, “Beyond Acheron” is a powerful album which can make the most loyal fans of Death Metal happy, and it also surprises those who are not in the mood to hear just that more of the same thing that has been played for bands over the decades. Temple Of Dread could show musicians that really know what they want for their music.
“The Plague” – Official Lyric Video
TRACKLISTING:
01. Charon’s Call (Intro)
02. Beyond Acheron
03. World Below
04. Damnation
05. Dance of Decay
06. All-Consuming Fire
07. The Plague
08. Carnality Device
09. Asebeia
10. Hades
LINE-UP:
Jens Finger – Vocals
Markus Bünnemeyer – Guitars, Bass
Jörg Uken – Drums, Keys
LINKS:
