Born from the murky, industrial depths of Detroit Rock City, where daylight is cast dark by the remnants of old wealth and desolate car industries, Temple Of Void spew forth their resolute death doom on their fifth album (and first as a quartet), The Crawl. A sound developed from classic doom, and infused with the glory of old school death metal, they cast forth their lot in search of desperate ruminations.
Bleak, yet with enough old school sensibility to keep it engaging and enjoyable, the album gets out the starting gate with the stomping ‘Poison Icon’. The growled vocals reminiscent of early Cannibal Corpse, the music is more Pentagram. It’s a palate cleanser for the more doom laden stuff to follow with first ‘Godless Cynic’ providing a much more expansive side of the band, before the title track plunges into the depths of doom.
‘A Dead Issue’ creeps in on a rattle and buzz of spaced out synthesisers, before exploding in a rather glorious riff. With vocals sounding like they are literally rising up from the depths of the earth, it’s a moment of Lovecraftian tension and horror. ‘Thy Mountain Eternal’ is as epic as the title suggests, whilst ‘Soulburn’ ratchets up the intensity with some rather wonderful synth work providing true 80’s classic heavy metal feel. The album finishes in raucous style with the high speed ‘The Twin Stranger’ putting the pedal to the metal in true Motörhead style.
More doom than death, and with a fantastic classic feel to it, Temple Of Void have crafted an album which has more than enough twists and turns to keep you coming back for more. It’s epic in scope, but knows its limitations too, making it a well grounded addition to the death doom genre.
