ninehertz

Everything about Blasphemists Temple gives off Burning Witch or Khanate vibes, from the inclusion of Leo Hancill of doom drone masters Teleost, to the artwork and towering song lengths.

The Glaswegian trio don’t disappoint – and even better, don’t fully stick to that preconceived script. This is evident early on, during the opening Devil’s Flies where they diverge from the devilishly drawn-out droning bleakness, led initially by the vocals with the instrumentation following sharply after. It is subtle but important, standing out and grabbing your attention. You find yourself in a deep, pitch-black pit where voices scream at you to give in, the guitar squawks in your ear and scratches at the walls, truly despondent and unhinged with it.

Thine follows with a bulky tone proving to be a tractor beam that is impossible to resist; the vocals, part masked in amongst the static charged fog of noise, are pained and effective in this bleak atmosphere. Curse again provides a differentiation from the expected means, through a lazy hazy doom riff that is utterly compelling and oddly warming, turning darker but still with a wandering guitar that arrests any descent into truly depressive, funeral doom.

Alongside Instar Sling, this is the not only the newest face of British doom underground, but the bleakest with its soporific pulse and deathly outlook – and yet equally somehow the most exciting and alive.