Origin: Kastoria, West Macedonia, Greece 🇬🇷
Genre: Black Metal
Time holds no bounds to Greece’s Temple of Katharsis. As war rages, systems fail and as our world plummets deeper into the bowels of apocalypse, this three-headed serpent has patiently snaked its way throughout the chasms of the underground; spawning a demo, an EP and joining together with other covens for three split LP’s until now. On July 19, Temple of Katharsis left their seminal sacrifice upon the foot of Satan’s throne. Prepare to take part in ritual…
With “Macabre Ritual”, Temple of Katharsis scale the walls of the underground onto surface level with benefactions of proud Greek black metal that pays homage to the legends and to ancient evil. BM done the Helladic way but with subtle yet rich Scandinavian accents and set to a lush mid-tempo that allows for the full absorption of the unfiltered Satanic energy within. Rotting Christ worship along with some Dissection-heralding melodic parts to see you off on your journey through time and into the pits of Hades as “The Burning Flood of Antichrist” unfolds with hellish momentum following an unpretentious intro in “Abyssal Cold Void”. A most sinister tone set, and it’s into the dungeons and crypts we go now with the vermin and restless spirits of olde – guardians of the keep allowing you entrance into medieval catacombs as tracks like “In the Dungeons With the Rats” and “Inside the Medieval Crypt” conjure up images of black magick-enchanted, torchlit corridors – a true black metal soundtracked adventure through shadowy compositional mires and the annals of black metal history.
“Macabre Ritual” – a less-than-perfect black metal album, but a fine one nonetheless. Temple of Katharsis’ cross-school approach to the black craft – the convergence of Scandinavian and Hellenic paths – has produced a well-rounded album that anyone among the horde can appreciate. It’s epic yet simple, warm yet brutal and it was produced with albums like Varathron’s earliest works in mind. But on a musical level? Comprehensive, totally classic and spanning influences that channel Impaled Nazarene, Gorgoroth and Watain along with the aforementioned legends of the Greek scene.
Like the imbibing of a well-rounded vintage by candlelight, the Greek BM experience is a religious one: rich, complex and steeped in romanticism. “Macabre Ritual” delivers all this but with a level of wickedness akin to albums like Funeral Winds’ “Stigmata Mali” that cut through the romance like a hot dagger through holy flesh. A stunningly-packaged record and an impressive debut from one of the Greek scene’s many burgeoning underground black metal bands.
8/10
Experience “Macabre Ritual” by Temple of Katharsis right here as presented by Black Metal Promotion:
~Jeger
