No mercy for Temple of Dread!
Two years after starting to perform live and releasing their previous album, Markus Bünnemeyer (guitar/bass, Thrashhammer), Jörg Uken (drums, Adversvm, ex-Nightfall…), and Jens Finger (vocals, Slaughterday, ex-Obscenity) now joined by Andi Bauer (bass, Unchained Horizon) and Daniel Maurer (guitar, ex-Decaying Days, ex-Neorite), announce the release of their sixth album, Dreadspawn Dominion, once again on Testimony Records.
Wings of Immortality starts off as one of the last moments of calm albeit a slightly unsettling one but this acoustic intro gradually builds in intensity before giving way to the title track, Dreadspawn Dominion, which takes us by surprise and charges at us at full speed, immediately recapturing the energy of furious and aggressively intense death metal. The Old School elements are perfectly utilized to leave no room for lulls, while Born to Rot starts off with a slower, groovier approach but is sure to ignite, returning to a fast-paced sound and that devastating blast beat over which riffs and growls settle naturally. The solo eventually brings back the initial pace before another explosion, then Hybrid Horde Eternal takes off at full speed to deliver airy, piercing harmonics, but we’ll encounter one of the heaviest passages borrowed from Death/Doom before the leads get the machine going again. The track thoroughly runs us over but eventually gives way to Death March and its touch of melancholy before the riffs naturally become catchy, skillfully alternating between the two atmospheres while the vocalist belches; then Blood Pyre incorporates some Death/Thrash elements to reinforce the dynamic aspect of its rhythm section, all while playing extensively with the leads. Next up is Scorched by Cosmic Fire, which grants us a moment’s respite during its intro, then proves naturally impressive yet also suffocating at times while other sections are once again frenzied, much like on Rites of Blasphemy, which follows and returns to an almost constant, savage old-school approach to deliver a powerful blow, but the track moves fairly quickly into Artisan of Oblivion, where the sound is quite similar, making use of a few unsettling passages to thicken and diversify its assault. The track is quite long but doesn’t suffer for it, just like Infernal Eternity, which closes out the album and veers toward heavy tones, as well as numerous harmonics at first strident and dissonant, but eventually much more harmonious that even lead to a rather grandiose final.
Temple of Dread once again hasn’t disappointed! While the band still allows itself a few small experiments while staying true to its death metal roots, one might almost wish that Dreadspawn Dominion went even further! In any case, the album is sure to get your head banging.
95/100