The Crawl

It has been a long thirteen years since your reviewer was introduced to these Detroit-based doom-deathsters with their 2013 demo, and each album since has broadened the argument for Temple of Void being one of the best new doom bands to hit our ears this millennium. Each have been downright terrific in their own way, whichever your favourite. And at this point, five albums in, the expectations have naturally reached the sort of point where a failure would be the kind of devastating misstep that ruins a band’s career. So, it’s a strangely pleasurable experience to spend time with said fifth album The Crawl because the immediate reaction is relief that they haven’t made that misstep, and then with a little more time the reaction becomes joy at what might just be the best Temple of Void album so far!

Those new to the band would be surprised indeed to hear the widdly opening to first track Poison Icon, all crunching rhythm section and lead guitar, before a more typical doom-death stomp ensues albeit at a much higher tempo than usual! Those lead guitars are brought back again and again, draped over the track like silk cloth over a tombstone, and become even more enticing on each listen, mixed in well with the crunching riffs and distracting but not detracting from the central doom-death foundation. And from then on things grow even stranger, with a general focus on experimental influences including post-punk that more than mark this latest Temple of Void opus out from competitors if the usual band touchstones didn’t do that enough.

There are plenty of touches of what can only be described as the band enjoying themselves, such as the tech-thrash spine that runs through Godless Cynic or the near psychedelic synth-backed A Dead Issue, tautly ominous with an instrumental meander that starts to wander from the path but is swiftly brought back to focus. Each track manages to be something different and unique but without losing touch with the album as a whole. And of course, the central doom-death that Temple of Void built their reputation on is still present and correct, not least in the crushing title track which is the sort of muscular, riff-forward workout that many a lesser band could never write, with a nicely atmospheric melancholic outro.

Another example is how the first section of Thy Mountain Eternal may have a stuttering groovy riff at its core but it’s undeniably doom-death with atmosphere and vocals stopping things from turning too far towards heavy metal territory – and the latter part of the track transcending towards epic doom is simply marvellous. The quality is kept up right through the tracklisting, Soulburn bringing the synths back but giving them a swirling intensity that helps the surrounding Sabbath-y stomp from being carried off by what are pretty much stoner rock vibes, before returning to the lead guitar and grandiosity of earlier in its closing moments. And closer The Twin Stranger builds more on the melancholic atmospherics with its mournful guitars taking the helm, bringing the album to a close with style. We have to give kudos to the terrific mix, too, courtesy of Converge’s Kurt Ballou and simply splendid with plenty of room for bass and the bottom end in general – it makes the already excellent album simply fantastic and already a contender for their best album yet, which time and repeated plays will surely only reinforce!