Macedonian Doom merchants The Temple were briefly known under another guise, Scooby Doom, back in the mid-noughties. This has no relevance to the review but it really did make me chuckle! As the more seriously named The Temple, this Thessaloniki quartet have run a spartan life in terms of releases, and whilst their earlier work focused on standard Doom fare such as Mediaeval times and the witch trials, these days the band are more introspective in their lyrical output, leaning more towards problems of the inner self, grief, sorrow and remorse. Their sophomoric album comes out via long standing Swedish Doom label I hate Records, and ‘Of Solitude Triumphant’ saw a CD release just last month.
‘Of Solitude Triumphant’ is a ponderous dirge of an album, sporting clean, almost chanted vocals, a sturdy backline of workmanlike drumming and heavy throbbing bass tones, and mournful guitar leads and sombre rhythms that crash and fall like the sound of waves on a beach head in winter, cold, crisp and inhospitable. Personally, I find the haunting, almost monastic chanted backing vocals and slow, yet crushingly heavy guitar leads of ‘Reborn in Virtue’ to be very moving, and very emblematic of the whole album’s overall sound, though this track in particular stands out above the rest due to its groovier mid-section and very intense sounding guitar tones.
Other tracks such as ‘Profound Loss’ genuinely feel like what a church choir would sound like if they took up guitars. There is an overwhelming secular feel to the flow and balance of the track, whilst the vocals themselves are unsurprisingly dreary and sombre. (In a good way you understand) The Monastic theme prevails during the oppressively heavy tones and morose atmospheric of ‘A White Flame for the Fear of Death’, whilst penultimate song ‘Premonitions of the Final Hour’ drops the tone even further as the slow funeral march towards death continues unabated, before the colossal sounding ‘The Lord of Light’ sees things out in grandiose fashion.
Despite the bitterness, sadness and melancholic flavour that radiates from ‘Of Solitude Triumphant’, I found this new opus to be a very calming experience, no doubt due to the myriad haunting melodies woven throughout. How a band once called Scooby Doom could be this thought provoking, moving and engaging is beyond me, but this album is well worth your time.
(7/10 Marksson)
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