Review TEMPLE OF VOID “The Crawl”

Temple of Void hail from Detroit, a city with a storied and influential musical legacy. Formed in 2013, the band have released four full-length albums to date. With “The Crawl”, their fifth longplayer, Temple of Void add another powerful chapter to their musical journey.

Known primarily for their death/doom metal roots, the band’s earlier albums were firmly built on that musical foundation. This time around, however, Temple of Void seem less concerned with strictly adhering to genre conventions. Instead, they deliver an album that feels like a musical wrecking ball – raw, crushing, and unapologetically heavy.

While “The Crawl” is still rooted mainly in death metal, the band allow themselves greater freedom to simply make things heavy. After multiple listens, it’s clear that this approach pays off. The title track stands out as one of the album’s highlights. Moving at a deliberately slow pace, it perfectly embodies its name, with riffs that crawl relentlessly into the listener’s subconscious and demand serious headbanging.

Overall, this longplayer requires strong neck muscles. The title track echoes the band’s earlier death/doom tendencies before “A Dead Issue” emerges with a dystopian intro. This song reveals a new facet of Temple of Void’s sound, as subtle keyboard layers add an extra level of depth and atmosphere. It’s an unexpected but welcome twist that brings variety to the album.

The record opens with “Poison Icon,” a roaring burst of death metal that sets the tone for the album’s intense 41-minute running time. Temple of Void never move to frantic speeds, instead maintaining a moderate tempo throughout. The intensity comes from sheer riff power and the massive groove the Detroit quartet generate across “The Crawl.”

Despite maintaining a consistent core sound, the album offers enough variation and detail to remain engaging. “Soulburn” delivers a hard-hitting death metal assault near the end, before “The Twin Stranger” brings the album to a close. The final track is another monolithic death metal stomper, radiating a sinister and oppressive aura.

“The Crawl” clearly demonstrates Temple of Void’s continued development. By staying true to their established formula while adopting a slightly different songwriting approach, the band open new creative possibilities. The result is a massive death metal album – raw yet nuanced – that further solidifies Temple of Void’s position within the death metal community.