Temple of Baal
Lightslaying Rituals
Agonia
Records 2009
Intellectual
oriented blackened death metal from France is what we get on Temple of
Baal's third full-length album. Tight and ferocious, Lightslaying
Rituals is an exercise in precision and aggression. Piercing the
Veils of Slumber takes blasting black metal riffs and then crushes them
through a Morbid Angel blender. Muscular riffs and a beefy bass
batter all resistance while powerful bass drums obliterate anything
that remains. Up next is the rapid fire assault of Triumph of
Heretic Fire. Jackhammer snares and sawing riffs bring to mind
Brazilian entities like Krisiun and Abhorrence though with a blackened
edge to the riffs. We are even treated to hellishly intense
guitar solo that does its best to eviscerate before succumbing to
Angelcorpse-ish riffing armageddon. Black Sun of the Damned is
the perfect illustration of American death metal influence on Temple of
Baal as a triumphant and monstrously HEAVY riff opens the song before a
sawing guitar morphs into black metal devastation. Probably the
"blackest" moment on the album comes in the latter parts of Dead Cult
with its Swedish black metal riffing and blasting drums creating a
nearly hypnotizing mood. Boltthrower references take front stage
on the rhythmic dance of Poisoned Words which crushes like a
steamroller. Vectors to the Void is a rush of hot steel as a
catchy repetitive riff scalds the flesh before jumping into a meaty,
Slayer-esque groove for the chorus. The production is loud and
full though not as plastic as many of Temple of Baal contemporaries.
Lightslaying Rituals is a demonically heavy death metal album
that levels cities through its use of venomous, crushing riffs and
razor-sharp drumming.