Artist: Temple Nightside
Country: Australia
Label: Iron Bonehead Productions
Formats: LP / CD
Year: 2026
It’s still an astonishing thought that Australia is not only a country but also a continent with a population just 50% larger than that of the Netherlands, a country so small you can barely spot it on a map. It’s therefore all the more surprising to realise that Australia has so much high-quality Extreme Metal to offer. Alongside the big names such as Sadistik Exekution and Deströyer 666, and a few others who represent the wildest end of the spectrum, there is also a very interesting crop of bands playing dark, brooding Death Metal with a heavy Black Metal edge. Any fan of Extreme Metal knows their way around the Australian Black/Death Metal scene, of course, and will at the very least have come across the name Temple Nightside. Together with Portal, Grave Upheaval and Impetuous Ritual, they form the core of bands that manage to weave Black Metal and Death Metal together in the most sophisticated way to create a terrifying and soul-devouring sound.
Whilst this group of bands may be synonymous with quality, they are not particularly prolific. Temple Nightside, who have been making a name for themselves since 2010, are only now releasing their fifth album, ‘Cenotaph Severance’, their first in six years. But for those who have no trouble exercising patience, or for the true connoisseurs amongst us: that patience is rewarded with an album that proudly bears the Temple Nightside logo.
Although it has been six years since ‘Pillars Of Damnation’ was released, listening to this new album feels just like business as usual. The musical formula has changed little, if at all, meaning the band sticks to its complex riff patterns and volatile rhythms, whilst Mitchell “IV” Keepin’s strikingly dry grunt is at times somewhat reminiscent of that of Necros Christos. But whilst those Germans relied primarily on a hypnotic and occult atmosphere, Temple Nightside are a band that delve into the deepest depths and stand shoulder to shoulder with genre greats such as Grave Miasma, Dead Congregation and Incantation. Yet that is not the whole picture. At times, when the tempo slows down a little, a comparison with, say, Spectral Voice is not out of place, and when the band really puts its foot down, the similarities with local counterparts such as Vassafor, Diocletian and Verberis or Canadian Antediluvian are unmistakable.
Due to the complexity of the riffs, the haunting melodies and the heavy production, ‘Cenotaph Severance’ is, perhaps even more so than any of their previous work, an album that offers an intensity and depth which mean that repeated listens lead to a greater understanding. Repeated listens allow the music to unfold, as it were; the hallmark of a fine piece of craftsmanship. You may have had to be patient, but it’s well worth it.
