Here are a couple of new things (one new song and one new video) that I thought I’d recommend before the work week comes to an end. They’re both instrumental pieces, but that’s about where the similarity ends.
TEMPEL
A couple of days ago Arizona’s Tempel premiered another new song (“Descending Into the Labyrinth”) from their forthcoming album The Moon Lit Our Path — which will be released by Prosthetic Records on June 16. I meant to write about it sooner than now, but my fucking day job derailed my plans. Better late than never, I hope.
“Descending” is more than 12 minutes long, which is a challenge for any kind of metal song, but perhaps even more so for an instrumental piece. But “Descending” doesn’t feel bloated or monotonous. It does establish certain grim musical motifs through the repetition of heavy grinding riffs, but they don’t wear out their welcome, in part because of the energy and variety in drummer Rich Corle’s performance and in part because the dark melodies in the song are so seductive.
Tempel also integrate some very cool lead guitar parts in the track, including a spacey acoustic-and-electric duet in the song’s mid-section, which starts in meditative fashion and builds in volume and intensity to a finishing crescendo of jabbing riffs and swirling notes, and one more shimmering Ryan Wenzel guitar solo closes the song in excellent fashion.
The new album is available for pre-order via the Bandcamp link below. Listen on either player below.
https://tempelofficial.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/Tempelofficialband
ANIMALS AS LEADERS
Within the last hour Animals As Leaders released a video for the song “Physical Education”, which appears on their current album The Joy of Motion. Calling the song metal may be a stretch — it’s more like a fusion of funk and jazz — but it was a nice change of pace when I saw the video.
As for the video, it sets the song to a lesson about bullying and karma, as taught in the Animals As Leaders Middle School.
6 Responses to “NEW THINGS FROM TEMPEL AND ANIMALS AS LEADERS”
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I always considered AAL as a Jazz Fusion band stuck in the body of a metal band. And I mean this in the best way possible. That rhythm line is just infectious!
“Descending Into the Labyrinth” is a fantastic track, i barely noticed the minutes fly by 🙂
Tempel is great, but i do agree with some of the comments i have seen. On the longer tracks it would not hurt to have just a few lines of lyrics, sort of like a crescendo. I feel like something in the vein of Messiah Marcolin, or maybe Nemtheanga
SO psyched for that Tempel album.
Another astonishing song by Tempel and in a twinkling of an eye it ends but the pleasure to click “play” several times remains, twelve minutes of greatness!
A ‘holy fuck’ for Tempel’s cover art! Incredible.