Temple Desecration - Whirlwinds of Fathomless Chaos.
Review by Trevor Proctor.
This year has brought us, and will continue to bring us, many highly anticipated debut albums. To date we’ve had debuts from Taphos, Veiled and Jyotiṣavedāṅga, among many others and we’ve still the latter half of the year to go with Malthusian and a host of other underground bands waiting to unleash their debut albums upon us. One such highly anticipated debut is ‘Whirlwinds of Fathomless Chaos,’ by Temple Desecration which is set to be released on LP and CD formats by Iron Bonehead Productions on the 13th of July.
From Tychy in Poland Temple Desecration formed in 2011 and details around membership of the band still remain very limited as does their online presence. Their debut demo, Abhorrent Rites, was released on CD in October 2012 by Polish label, Societas Oculorum Arcanorum and such is the standard of music featured that Abhorrent Rites was re-issued on cassette by Black Goat Terrorist 666 in 2013 and also on vinyl by Iron Bonehead Productions in July 2015. Temple Desecration’s second release was the phenomenal Communion Perished MLP which was released by Iron Bonehead Productions in July 2014. Featuring two tracks that spanned thirteen minutes Communion Perished is a very strong release and garnered the band a lot of critical acclaim and attention within underground circles, including a review by myself here. Since the release of Communion Perished the underground has waited in growing anticipation for over four years for any new music from Temple Desecration and now, thankfully, that wait is almost over - and the good news is the wait has been well worth it.
On Communion Perished Temple Desecration began to push traditional boundaries of Black/Death metal, by-passing traditional and typical conventions to create music far superior to many of their peers. That MLP witnessed the band experimenting with longer track lengths and this exploration continues on Whirlwinds of Fathomless Chaos which features five tracks, averaging over seven minutes each.
In an underground that’s saturated with this style of Black/Death Metal it can be difficult for a band to have its own sound but Temple Desecration have managed to do so and there a number of factors which contribute to this discernible sound. Their music, on all recordings, but especially on this album, is encompassed by an atmosphere steeped in evil and menace that many bands try, and fail miserably to achieve. Another tool wielded by Temple Desecration with utmost effectiveness is their use of spoken word passages and intros along with effects and snippets that enhance and accentuate the pervading evil atmosphere. Closing track, ‘Blood Offering’ is available to stream below and succinctly illustrates their use of these vocal passages and shows how easily Temple Desecration can drop the pace of their music without losing any of its intensity, only for that intensity to return stronger than ever, seemingly at the flick of a switch.
On Whirlwinds of Fathomless Chaos Temple Desecration have experimented and explored different soundscapes and tempos than previous to create a more immersive and hypnotic sound whilst remaining anchored to their Black/Death roots. No more is this exploration exemplified than on the penultimate track, ‘Covenant,’ which lasts over twelve and a half minutes. Easily their slowest track ever Temple Desecration drops the pace from the start yet do so without losing any of the potency and atmosphere already created, giving the album a more ritualistic and hypnotic feel whilst steeping it in even more atmosphere. Their ability on this track to create music so destructive yet so hypnotic is exemplary. ‘Covenant’ grasps your attention from the first beat, dragging you into this truly hypnotic world from which there is no escape – it's difficult for bands in this sub-genre of music to capture and hold your attention for so long yet Temple Desecration do so easily.
Never Surrender is an underground festival this November where Nuclear War Now! Productions and Iron Bonehead Productions have joined forces once again to create a fierce and unparalleled line-up of some of the world’s finest underground bands including, among many others, Blasphemy, Temple Nightside, Unaussprechlichen Kulten, and Grave Upheaval. Temple Desecration are also scheduled to play and I’ve no doubt whatsoever they will deliver one of the most punishing sets of the ‘fest which is also one of the sets I’m most looking forward to – please follow this link for a full listing of bands to feature at what I feel is the underground event of the year.
I’ve been a fan of Temple Desecration for a few years now and this album has had several plays since the promo hit and I can’t fault it any way whatsoever – it’s Black/Death perfection and sets a very high standard for others to try and match.
Temple Desecration’s music was ahead of many of their peers on their previous releases but on Whirlwinds of Fathomless Chaos they have pushed the boundaries and raised their standards higher than ever – when I consider the progress this band has made across their short discography it leaves me wondering how the Hell they can top this, but in the meantime I’m more than happy to keep this album on repeat for another while. Easily one of the year’s best albums so far and I’ve no doubt this will feature highly in my year-end listing.
Black/Death perfection 10/10.
Tracklist:
01 - Nameless Hordes
02 - Entering the Void
03 - Dominion of Darkness
04 - Covenant
05 - Blood Offering.
Whirlwinds of Fathomless Chaos by Temple Desecration will be available on CD + LP via Iron Bonehead Productions from the 13th of July.
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