Temple Nightside has stood out over the past sixteen years compared to the numerous other bands that orient their sound towards the more cavernous and dense styles of death metal. Their 2013 debut fused together elements of black and death metal with slower death/doom passages that gave thing a more methodical cadence and focused on dense atmosphere as often as it did crushing, cavernous blasts. 2016’s The Hecatomb took this to the next level, and two years later Temple Nightside reimagined their debut through the Recondemnation release. But by 2020 the group’s approach had shifted significantly, as there was less emphasis on doom sections and faster, more aggressive riffing that rarely let up. As a result, Pillars of Damnation left a lasting impression thanks to how well it nailed that murky, atmospheric sound but had killer riffs to back it up. Six years later, the band is back with a new lineup and Cenotaph Severance continues to dive further into the riff-forward approach. It’s the most significant transformation for Temple Nightside in some time and also peels back some of the murk, but the strength of the writing showcases this incarnation of the band is just as strong as ever.
Guitarist Ignis Fatuus from Grave Upheaval and Impetuous Ritual joined in 2022, and he fits in continuing the band’s emphasis on aggression and scorching riffs/solos. Like Pillars of Damnation, there hasn’t been a complete removal of the slower, doom build-ups, as “The Slow Embalming of the Will”, “Within Sepulchred Walls”, and “Desolation Utterance” have some passages where things slow down considerably and let the atmosphere build over slightly longer track-lengths. But the bulk of the material is built around faster attacks, with songs like “Sunken in Charnel Entrails” having a bit more of that controlled chaos and jagged edges of old-school death metal while other moments bring out the black metal tonality more than ever before. The biggest difference comes through the production, which peels back some of the dense, cavernous layers in favor of a bit more clarity. This change gives the guitars and bass a bit more of a chance to breathe, and while it’s not as oppressive of a sound there is still a good deal of weight to the instrumentation. I think this approach works for the riff-forward approach Cenotaph Severance is going for, as where some of the details were more obscured in the past here specific riffs and solos really jump out at you. Songs like “Desolation Utterance” showcase Temple Nightside at their best, as the way the material ebbs and flows allows for sections where the atmosphere has this haunting, calm before the storm feel and then the scorching riffs come right back in to tear down everything in their path. There are a few sections where the mid-tempo and faster sections result in some similar patterns, but this proves to be an exception rather than something that happens regularly throughout the album.
Long-time members IV and BR trade off on vocals, and this continues to give Temple Nightside a more dynamic performance compared to some of the other death metal of this type. Within the first couple minutes of opener “Seething Dissolve” you’ll hear raspier screams backed up by lower growls, and the song transitions between the two in ways that aren’t overly predictable throughout its six-minute run. With the added clarity of the recording the vocals seem to cut through with even more power and grit, especially when it comes to the higher ranges and the way they burst through your speakers. I also like the way the growls reverberate and have more of a ghastly sound on tracks like “The Slow Embalming of the Will”, and you also get some moments where some spookier whispering is added in to really enhance the sense of dread and tension Temple Nightside has had a more ominous presence to their vocal work since the beginning, and the performance here uses those qualities to their fullest.
Things may be slightly less murky and cavernous this time around, but don’t take that to mean that Temple Nightside has lost any of their bite. There remains a good deal of low-end heaviness to their instrumentation, and the more aggressive slant of the riffs brings in more of the old-school death metal sound alongside even more jagged black metal tonality. While a few sections run together, the way the onslaught of riffs collides with the more subdued and creepier atmosphere makes for a memorable listen and showcases why this group is one of the better death metal acts Australia has to offer. Cenotaph Severance is available from Iron Bonehead Productions.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg