Temple Of Decay "Last Manifestation Of Life" CD Digipack

Comes in a 6-panel digipak limited 500 copies. Co-released Black Death Production & Wolfmond Production.

Black metal from Poland is a pretty safe bet more often than not, and it is no different with the quite newish band Temple of Decay. Not much info is available about this act other than it being a one-man-project by some dude called Mortt. It seems that the debut EP “Last Manifestation of Life” is a co-release between Polish label Black Death Production and the German one Wolfmond Production. Mortt took inspiration by some of his better known Polish peers by fusing high energy modern black metal with the grim and classic Northern sound of the nineties.
Temple of Dedcay’s sound and approach are firmly rooted within black metal’s raw and feral side, with plenty of interesting and discordant motifs thrown into the mix. Mortt surely knows how to get the blood pumping and the mind drifting away. Etching sorrowful melodies out of the haze, he creates surprisingly melodic and beautiful melodies across the vast sonic landscapes over the course of this EP. The howls of the vocals wail mournfully beneath the moving passages and long-form builds, the drums pulsing mid-tempo runs and blasts beneath much of the melodious passages.
The riffs are never sacrificed for the focus on atmosphere, breaking out in thrash-ready momentum that calls back to a lot of bands who got famous while riding the second wave of black metal, while keeping the cold harshness of the first wave. Plenty of lead tremolo work scatters across the songs, adding an edge of melodicism to the sound. Like a lot of the modern era bands there are some death metal influences woven into the bigger picture as well.
There is a certain level of aggressiveness and bleakness omnipresent, but that does not mean that some of the harmonies and melodies presented here aren’t captivating. This is one of the albums that remind fans of this music why well-done black metal can be one of the most fascinating genres. The drumming is serviceable, but the real stars of the show here are anyway the great atmosphere and the guitar lines. The songs are properly constructed, and this EP just flies by.
The sound is fine, with the production being raw yet organic and not too muddy. The cover artwork is also fantastic and therefore I recommend to have a look at the physical release of “Last manifestation of Life”. This is a promising sign of a new act and I for one hope to hear a lot more from this project in the future.

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