The Temple - Of Solitude Triumphant

Greece is well known for being a home to 'dramatic sound' metal groups. Groups such as Rotting Christ and Septicflesh have made their staple sound known from this country, and it seems like another is on the rise. Formed in 2005, The Temple takes a dramatic style of basic doom and presents it in 7 tracks that will appeal to fans anywhere from Type O Negative to Draconian. This is certainly not happy or gothic doom but not dreary death doom either. Somewhere in the middle more along the lines of almost Pallbearer doom with just darker tones.

Taking things a different route compared to their debut the dramatics and atmosphere can be heard right off the first track with the choirs, a bit of a deceiving quiet piece compared to the rest. The Temple at least knows how to start things off right. Other tracks like 'The Foundations' and 'Reborn In Virtue' showcase the more typical doom side with sweeping, distorted riffs in the vein of Draconian, haunting clean vocals that provide almost as much atmosphere as the choirs, and just a very depressive, yet immersive weight to the music. As the album progresses one can feel more and more atmosphere seeping into each track. The vocals especially seem to get more ethereal and layered when it comes to a track like 'Profound Loss.' At the same times the guitars shed their more gothic doom tones and take on the more traditional doom style similar to Type O Negative.

While some can argue that The Temple tends to be a bit one sided in the fact they tend to stick with the same riffs and tones and a lot of 'moaning' style vocals, there is a bit of depth and variety in each one that separates it a bit from the others. 'A White Flame For The Fear Of Death' has less ethereal touches vs. a track like  'Premonitions...' which is almost more of an instrumental track with the vocals very obscured by their distortion. This is probably the most gothic doom track on the album. Even the closing 'The Lord Of Light' despite the backing choirs and dragging pace doesn't compare. Here the guitars are stripped down even more and chug along in Candlemass meets Type O Negative fashion, so fans of more old school doom will find this appealing, even if it does drag on a bit too long.

Overall, the four piece known as The Temple are a group to keep an eye on for their dramatic, yet basic approach to doom. "Of Solitude Triumphant" is depressing as it is wonderous and will appeal to fans of dramatic metal of all kinds. While not as epic as the debut from back in 2016, this album does take things up a notch in the atmospheric department, bordering funeral doom but not quite being as drawn out or boring in that sub genre.

4 / 5 STARS