Album Review: TEMPLE OF VOID The World That Was (3/27)

Temple of Void is a doom-death quintet from Detroit. Since 2013, they've been combining the somber sound of early British doom with the energy and devastation of old school American death metal. The likes of Morbid Angel and Bolt Thrower form the backbone of ToV's sound. They released their first LP in 2014 but it was 2017's Lords of Death that brought them to the underground spotlight.

With 38 minutes and 5 proper tracks of mid-tempo crushing death doom, Temple of Void returns with the third album The World That Was. "A Beast Among Us" opens the album with 7 minutes of groove, energy and heaviness.  The faster tempo of the first half gives drummer Jason Pearce opportunity to shine. The second half goes vary doomy with dragging tempo and a one minute fade. The energy returns with the single "Self-Schism", a song that shows the influence of early Alice in Chains on the guitar riffs mixed with a hint of post metal. "A Single Obolus" is a minute and a half Spanish guitar song that divides the album. The shortest track on the album follows: "Leave the Light Behind" which relies more intensively on synths and clean singing. At the end of the day, this combination generates a more accessible song. "Casket of Shame" kicks of with grunge guitar riffs and keeps the groove throughout the song. The 10-min epic title track closes the album with elegance. It's the perfect choice as the song uses many of the colors that the band displayed during the entire album.

While I really enjoyed The World That Was from start to finish, only time will tell if it will stick with me. It's not the type of metal I return to very often. But Temple of Void brought a diverse death doom album with very little to complain about. Maybe just some of the surprising twists such as "Leave the Light Behind" did not impress me.

All and all, Temple of Void delivers again top notch music writing and pristine execution. But this time around the band dialed up on the doom and sludge leaving the death metal more on the background. Outside influences from the likes of Alice in Chains or post-metal bands brought even more colors in their crushing palette. You add more prominent synths to give some more atmosphere and the receipt for success is done. 

SCORE: 80/100
Genre: Death Doom Metal
Released by Shadow Kingdom Records on March 27th, 2020

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Rating System
96 - 100 Perfect
88 - 95 Excellent
84 - 87 Great
80 - 83 Very Good
75 - 79 Good
69 - 74 Mixed
58 - 68 Bad