Temple of Void have announced a new Kurt Ballou-recorded album, The Crawl, due March 6 via Relapse, and guitarist Alex Awn says “the biggest shift for me on this record was not feeling like we had to fly the ‘death-doom banner’ as part of our identity.”
“Death-doom, as a genre, gave us something to anchor our sound around when we started,” Alex continues. “It was always a reference and touchstone. At the same time, we always wanted to make sure we had our own spin on it. We’ve always been adding to the conversation, adding to the genre, giving our point of view. A huge part of what makes a Temple of Void record is the non-death-doom influences that make up our DNA. And on album five, we never once asked ourselves, ‘Do we have enough death metal? Do we have enough doom metal?’ We simply wrote a heavy-ass record—let the chips fall where they may.”
The lead single/title track does sound death-doom to my ears, but you can definitely feel other influences creeping in too. And regardless of subgenre, it’s just a badass metal song. Check out the video (directed by The C.O.I.N.) below.
Tracklist
1. Poison Icon
2. Godless Cynic
3. The Crawl
4. A Dead Issue
5. Thy Mountain Eternal
6. Soulburn
7. The Twin Stranger