Something gigantic and terrible is looming over the dark horizon, and it’s reaching its mighty hand to drag you down below the earth. That’s the feeling anyway on Summoning the Slayer (Relapse Records) — the fourth full-length record by Michigan’s death/doom quintet Temple of Void.
Right out of the gate the band tips their collective cap to Morbid Angel — on opening track ‘Behind The Eye’ — with a few seconds of backwards riffing, bringing to mind the intro to Altars of Madness. The spirit of those godfathers of death metal feels like a continual presence throughout the record — no more so than on track ‘Hex, Curse & Conjuration’ and its remorseless pummelling. However, if the comparison is to be drawn, it would be most suitably to 1995’s Domination, as Temple of Void’s zone on this record is a slow, gruelling trudge.
From time to time, perhaps, the band become a little overzealous with laying out the atmosphere — as on ‘Deathtouch’ — where they really drag that central, descending, chorus riff deep into the ground. That said, it’s this very tendency of the band to dig into morbidly slow, crushing riffs that ultimately becomes almost hypnotic as the record progresses.
Alongside the band’s tendency to lock into churning grooves, appears their obvious appreciation of melody. Though on the one hand much of the album is played at a similarly slow pace — with giant, crashing chords, pounding drums and typical death metal growls — every now and then comes a surprisingly melodic hook. This is done to great effect on the sinister, descending, dark carnival of ‘Engulfed’ — where around three minutes in, the track opens out, before plunging back into the depths.
Another appealing feature of this record is the subtle instrumental variation. Yes, the lineup is nothing unusual — Alex Awn (guitars), Don Durr (guitars), Mike Erdody (vocals), Jason Pearce (drums), and Brent Satterly (bass) — but the band doesn’t lack creative impulses. ‘The Transcending Horror’ — for instance — uses clean guitars to great atmospheric effect, while on the album’s closer — ‘Dissolution’ — acoustic guitar and heavily processed clean vocals bring to mind Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin in reflective mode. Also, is someone playing a flute in there? This gentle coda brings to mind Pantera’s Far Beyond Driven — and its Sabbath covering end “Planet Caravan” – as if the band’s saying “don’t be fooled into thinking our influences are two dimensional.”
If Summoning the Slayer were a tree, it would have to be dead, twisted and black, with its roots digging into a mass grave. Nonetheless it’s a ghoulish tree that bears fruit — a slow, gruelling, but ultimately satisfying listening experience if you seek riffs played at a grand, churning crawl.
Buy the album here: https://templeofvoid.bandcamp.com/
8 / 10
TOM OSMAN