Temple
Funeral Planet

Funeral Planet sounds like quite a place, perhaps it is the place that Temple has illustrated on the artwork of their debut album Funeral Planet. The members have experience from pretty hellish bands and I read “those familiar with Silver Devil and Surfing In Hell will instantly know they are in good hands” in the press material. I don’t know them so I will be strapping in for a riffing ride, or that is what the press material suggests. So how about it?

It is doom, fuzz, stoner, that sort of description, heavy riffing, massive soundscape, doomy feel all over the place. A massing singer that might be inspired by the likes of Ozzy, I think he has a pretty dramatic voice that suits the style well. The sound is pretty strong, the songs pretty similar and it all tends to blend together a little towards the end. They keep it short, and that is almost always a good thing. I don’t think it is a particularly fresh album, but at least they aren’t copying the most common thing and that is a positive.

Funeral Planet is a pretty exciting album overall, the atmosphere is appealing in is greyish darkness that is well illustrated by the cover. The negative is the similitude of the songs that makes it seem like not much happens through the playing time and that journey around the funeral planet ends up a little unfulfilling, like it is missing something. That something is probably a bit of dynamic and some edge to the performances, it could have been more exciting and braver.

Temple gives us a debut that works, but it doesn’t stand out particularly much and that riffing ride isn’t that exciting – a pretty tame ride towards the end. You might find this album quite appealing if you like the similar stuff, it is certainly a well-crafted album. So, I can’t complain about the craftsmanship and it is an album that I like to listen to for a while, but it isn’t an album that makes a strong lasting impression and in the end it will not really be one that will stand among the best of its release year.

HHHHHHH