Temple Nightside - Pillars Of Damnation

Black Vinyl. Their vision still boundless (and boundlessly BLACK), TEMPLE NIGHTSIDE return with the all-new Pillars of Damnation. Not for nothing is it titled as such: dense foundations of eldritch dread are both built around the listener and crushed by their hulking onslaught of sepulchral decibels. It's immediately and irrevocably TEMPLE NIGHTSIDE in their purest, most punishing form - bestial pulses evaporating into a smokestack-sized fog of frightening, palpable evil - but here rendered in a dexterously taut manner, and one even deceptively "anthemic" if you will. For where so much nowadays "cavernous death metal" slathers on lazy glazes of half-formed riff masquerading as "atmosphere," this Oz cult instead write RIFFS and their intensity has subsequently sharpened to a stultifying degree, lending a certain clarity to that evil that's even more intimidating. We'd be loathe to qualify this attack on Pillars of Damnation as "tighter" lest one think of popcorn-triggered "death metal," but it does give pause for reflection on this subtle-yet-radical development. Which is to say nothing of the closing 10-minute monolith "Damnation," which will BURY you...