There are few death metal bands whose first three releases are of the quality of German act Temple Of Dread, indeed their albums stand testament to a genre that continues to thrive some three decades plus in and shows no signs of waning in terms of quality or number of bands unleashing amazing albums. Temple Of Dread can firmly be placed within the top echelons of the genre as they release yet another astounding album titled ‘Hades Unleashed’ as Ave Noctum caught up with Markus Bünnemeyer to unveil what makes this band so effective.

AN: Three great albums in three years is some going, what is the motivation behind this outstanding release rate and with such quality too?

Thank you for your nice assessment. On the one hand, I’ve had a very creative phase in the past three years. The ideas literally gushed out of me. On the other hand, Temple of Dread is a band that – at least for now – doesn’t play live. So, we try to establish ourselves through both the quality and the quantity of our studio albums.

AN: The consistency you show on each album is astounding too, what approach did you have for the third release, ‘Hades Unleashed’? Did you do anything differently or maybe add some experimentation not present on your previous two albums?

We already found our basic style with the first album. We want to hold on to this – but we don’t want to get boring and copy ourselves. That’s why we add more new elements to our style and slow down the pace more often.

AN: How would you say ‘Hades Unleashed’ differs or is an improvement since ‘World Sacrifice’ an album that is also superb?

Many Thanks. Basically, “Hades” continues what we started on “World Sacrifice”. We were able to improve significantly our songwriting and I’m also happier with my riffs and solos than on the first two albums. Jörgs drumming and especially his great production are stunning and Jens was able to improve his vocals in an incredible way again. All in all, I am extremely satisfied and it will be a tough job for us to top this album.

AN: You have Frank Albers writing the lyrics for the album, why do you not write the lyrics yourselves? I have read that the lyrics conceptually are about Greek myths, could you expand on that for our readers?

Frank is not only one of my best friends, but also the fourth (unofficial) member of the band. I had the idea with him to found Temple, but unfortunately, he doesn’t play an instrument. His current lyrics are about ancient myths – not just Greek. ‘Empyrean’, for example, deals with the Roman saga of the Mundus Cereris, other songs with the Greek myths about Medusa, Aithon, Oedipuss or Tartarus.

AN: What prompted you to write about this topic, as it’s not the usual theme death metal bands write about, even though Ex Deo write about the Romans I believe and of course Nile write about Egyptian mythology?

We didn’t feel like using typical lyrical content such as splatter, gore or anti-religious topics. The dark ancient myths seemed very interesting to us and at least as exciting as ancient Egyptian or Sumerian topics like those of Nile or Morbid Angel.

AN: I found this album to be a bit darker than previous two releases, it has a sense of menace about it, would you agree with my assessment and if not, how would you describe the album?

I totally agree with you. But the threatening atmosphere is not only created by the music: the ingenious cover artwork, the lyrics, the band photos and the production underline the dark direction of the songs. Despite more melodies we have become even more extreme overall and managed to conjure up the spirit of the “golden eighties” even better.

AN: What tracks are the standouts on this album for you and why as there’s plenty to choose from? ‘Wrath Of The Gods’ and ‘Empyrean’ are a couple that really stood out for me and both are quite different to each other too. 

I would want to name the three songs “Wrath of the Gods”, “Necromanteion” and “Procession to Tartarus”. “Wrath” pays homage to all the bands I’ve loved since I was a kid, like Sodom and Kreator. “Necromanteion” shows a more moderate tempo, it is sometimes very melodic and deviates from our previous song structures – only at the end does the full force and speed break out again. “Procession” is a very atmospheric final song. Here you can spot similarities to Black Metal and in the end, you can even hear keyboards, trombones and strings.

AN: Who was involved in the song writing process and how does this occur when writing a Temple Of Dread album?

Basically, I work out the song structures on my own and of course I deliver all the riffs and melodies. Next, I talk to Jörg (drummer and producer) about the arrangements, then he drums up the songs. In the end, Jens thinks about how to place and how to sing the lyrics in the best way. A finished Temple Song is definitely a real teamwork, but we’re not always working on the songs at the same time.

AN: With the pandemic causing a lot of trouble for the music industry, how did you go about getting the album recorded? Were there any difficulties or unforeseen problems you had to overcome?

The pandemic situation and the lockdown had more impact on live playing bands. We actually had an advantage because we all had more time to focus on writing new songs. Due to a cancellation in Jörg’s Soundlodge-Studio, we were also able to bring the entire recording forward, so that we were ultimately able to release the album earlier than planned.

AN: Once again you have fantastic cover art for ‘Hades Unleashed’, how do you go about this aspect of the band? How did you decide what you wanted especially as the artwork is especially nightmarish when you really look at it closely?

On the new album we worked with the Italian artist Paolo Girardi. Paolo is not only a brilliant painter, but also an expert on ancient subjects and myths. He was immediately enthusiastic about the album concept and invested a lot more time than usual for this artwork. The end result is just stunning: a vortex that unleashes all the evil from Greek mythology to earth. It fits perfect to the lyrical content and I even recognize a few similarities to Massacre`s “From Beyond” artwork.

AN: What is the future vision for Temple Of Dread, except for world domination in death metal of course? 

Haha, that’s a good question. First of all, the most important thing is to keep all future releases at a very high musical level. As I said, it will be difficult to beat an album like “Hades Unleashed”, but yet I think that I still have interesting ideas up my sleeve. We will definitely record a cover version again in the future, maybe even a full cover EP.

AN: Death metal for me shows no signs of easing up in terms of the quality of releases I hear with lots of acts compared to the older generation of bands, the pioneers so to speak of the late 80s and early 90s. Do you think this comparison is valid considering some of those bands wrote their albums 30 years ago or are bands like yourselves forging ahead?

As I have already said several times in interviews, Death Metal was not only invented between 1985 and 1995, but also perfected at the same time. From my point of view, the question with modern releases is, how close new bands can get to this perfection. Albums like “Leprosy”, “Mental Funeral” or “The Grand Leveller” can never be topped. Nevertheless, I also appreciate new releases and would rate the development – especially in the last 10 years – in the area of Death Metal as extremely positive.

AN: I have read that you don’t perform live for various reasons, is this something you think will change in the future at all as hearing these songs live would be awesome?

We talk about this topic often and we carefully weigh the pros and cons. The Corona situation does not make this decision any easier. At this point, I would rather say no, but – as James Bond once said – never say never again!

AN: Thank you for answering my barrage of questions, it is much appreciated. Do you have any last messages or things to add that maybe I’ve not covered for the readers?

Thanks for having me! Thank you all for your great support and stay bruuuttttaaallll!!!!

(Interview Martin Harris)

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https://testimonyrecords.bandcamp.com/album/temple-of-dread-hades-unleashed