Temple of Void - Of Terror and the Supernatural (2014)

   In an old interview with Temple of Void it was written that they want to be the best death/doom band of the world. By the release of their debut "Of Terror and the Supernatural" the whole thing didn't even sound as an exaggeration, since the record sparked wider attention than what non-romantic death/doom bands used to get.
   No wonder, because the album was all-round excellent. Maybe a bit more intense than how most bands in this style used to be, but this at one hand was quite advantageous, since the slower and more miserable extreme music is, the lower is its chance to reach wider audiences. And the whole thing suited their music well, that despite had high quality sound and was definitely fitting into the main scene of the mid '10s, also had quite strong early '90s touch. It wasn't the well known tendency of the underground that focused on musical minimalism and the increased importance of noisy sound  possibilities. On the side of higher intensity, the band operated with simple, but catchy melodies, great heavy riffs and more diverse drumming style that could also reach the tempo of ordinary death metal. This resulted not only a wider perspective and more diverse main view, but also it was a step ahead of the meantime developing complexity based tendencies of the underground. Whether it was an intentional step from the band, or they simply enjoyed old school death and death/doom bands and just wanted to play what they like, the timing was great, seemed like a brave step, and turned out to be pretty effective the same time. The measures of raw heaviness and melodic melancholy are balanced and completing each other well, therefore the album didn't become one sided or repetitive in any directions. In total: "Of Terror and the Supernatural" definitely became one of the best death/doom albums ever, and became an unavoidable release of the subgenre.