Stay Pure D.I.Y

Temple of Evil - 'The Second Awakening' - Full-lenght - 2015 

It took almost 8 years for this black metal band from Nicosia (Cyprus) to gather the record the material meant for their first ever release. Having a really generic band name Temple of Evil (with a really cool logo) really made me think about and remember all of the unmemorable generic black metal acts I have heard in all of my 22 years of life. I get the fact that black metal is all about evil and darkness and stuff, but the genre can profit a lot more from a thoughtful progress in terminology and meaning of their philosophy. Long story short, I expected an album really not worth playing but a chance was given anyways, so stereotypic of me. Temple of Evil started their careers in 2008, the band has 4 members whose real names I couldn’t find, just cheesy nicknames like Arkhon Sakrificer (bass and vocals), Angelwhore (drums), Nekrocurse (Guitars, Keyboard) and Apethantos (Guitars). Anyways, here they are with the first ever release supported by the courtesy of Deathhammer Records, from Cyprus as well.

The album is called The 7th Awakening but actually a total of eight tracks have been recorded for its purpose. However, the first one called Initiation is an intro of deep and dark melancholy, quite artistically created with choirs, pianos and violins setting the ground for the upcoming performance. Illminatio Tenebrarvm comes upon the melancholy and activates the initial flow of The 7th Awakening. Basically sets off with a mid to fast paced blast beat and simple riff, spiced with a melody that’s pretty much the songs’ trademark. It has some twists in rhythm later on but in general it’s an old-school, well thought black metal song. …On Devils Wings follows and continues the same mesmerizing charm of its predecessor. A constant change of blast beats and slow moments occur, but the main riff basically sticks all the time. The guys took the motion slowly and wisely, not betting everything on the aspect of speed. Chalice of impure blood is one of my favorites as a mostly instrumental composition where the effort was put on making a combination of blast beats and slower riffs supported with acoustic/clean guitar sounds. Trust me, the effort was worth it. Temple of Evil really produced an eight minute pleasure as the second longest song on the album. Next in line is The Book of Shadows which has the same acoustic guitar moments, yet it’s a lot more colorful and vivid with the background choirs and constant guitar leads throughout the set. After the downside in the mediocre Necromancer’s Mystical Co the highlight of this album is upon rising. The 7th Awakening is by far the best song on the album, the longest as well with almost 10 minutes of play time. It’s best because it has all of the productivity, life, vividness and soul of all of the previous songs. The riffs, the solos, the drums blend in almost to the point of perfection. The great production aspect comes to praise here, making sounds of old-school black metal in present time. And that comes from a person who isn’t a great fan of the genre. But this I appreciate. The drums and bass are the best segments with their brutality and simplicity at once. After that song, only one more left – One Last Breathless Sig. It’s a short one having the bass as the lead instruments and a support of violin and piano provided. Everything closes in and Temple of Evil can say they are the proud owners of this black metal masterpiece.