Monday, June 21, 2010

Temple of Pain – Lord of The Undead Knights (Black Widow Records 2010)


As usual Black Widow releases some of the best in doom and knocks me on my ass in pure amazement and orgasmic delight with this Italian doom act featuring Fabio “Thunder” and anonymous special guests. As a huge fan of the label and their massive catalog of beautiful heavy releases Massimo rewarded me with this one as a sneak peak bonus to my Sancta Sanctorum. Sadly other than the MySpace page info and my listening experience I can’t get too much additional info on this band or release, but being that it’s classically epic doom and on BWR should be enough to prove its doom pedigree certification.

With doom, as many of you know, there is so much diversity in terms of sound and style so it’s not always easy to fit a band in somewhere perfectly and many of us have our specific preferences in those as well. Mine are most of the styles so I can’t really select any sound that dominates my hearing preference aside from my personal mood at the time of listening, which by now given the diversity of my reviews should appear schizophrenic or at least ADD. Fuck, regardless of what I like there’s something unmistakable about this one’s sound, it’s the perfect epic metallic doom of: Solitude Aeturnus, Candlemass, Lord Vicar, Mirror of Deception, Count Raven. You get the feel of great melodic metal, but you still get that indistinguishable tone and atmosphere that only comes in true Doom clothing. If you love the great melodic guitar work, the unforgettable riffs, variety in tempo, poetic and genuinely gloomy and desperate lyrics, phenomenal metal solos, and perfect vocal delivery that you get with the aforementioned acts, then you’ll be caught in the rip-tide of Temple of Pain’s take on Doom.

I really wish that I could say more about the band, but honestly it really doesn’t matter when the music is this powerful. All that I can say is that if you are a fan of Doom, a legitimate fan, then you really need to invest the time into hearing this album. Solitude Aeturnus is my all time favorite Doom band (if I had to pick, it’s damn near impossible to do so though) and anything that epic, devastating, and yet still alive and metallic will surely attract my attention like a shark to a drop of blood several miles away. I know many feel the same way, you like your doom: distinctively doom, metal, melodic, flawlessly executed, and HEAVY!!!!!!!!! So check this one out for sure, you’d really be a sucker not too. I’ve been unable to wean myself off of this release for the last week, and I have a ton of equally awesome new acquisitions to experience a bit deeper. Check out the audio on their page and feel the pull into the Doom abyss, it’s unavoidable really.

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