Tempel - "The Moon Lit Our Path" - Review

Every now and then, I find myself enjoying an instrumental album. It is not my cup of tea, but when it is, it’s a hell of a cup.

Tempel explore, with thick orchestration, an imagery of worlds. Whether they are ancient, dead and forgotten, or waiting to be discovered in the far end of our universe, remains in the listener’s consciousness to be unraveled. But even if it is in the far end of the universe, where time is a variable and not a constant, doesn’t that make it pretty much the same thing?

This is exactly what makes this album unique. It is successful in being attractive, adventurous and enjoyable. And if we go deeper into it, listening to how every song is constructed, we can listen to the great musicianship of Tempel.

Every song comes full circle, having an underlying theme and in the 8+ minutes, riffs develop, solos fly by and drums hit the ground relentlessly or other times holding a simple pace, creating structures. The lead guitars are the ones that make this whole album feel light and capable of releasing the listener’s emotions.

Since most successful metal albums create an emotional impact through a connection with a voice or the lyrics, one can feel that this music isn’t for him/her. It has the opposite effect. It releases the preexisting emotions and relaxes the listener. Just listen to “Descending Into The Labyrinth”, where around the middle of the song, string guitars come into play and along with the solos create a slowly building climax until the end of the song.

The aesthetics of the solos resemble that of Pink Floyd and the classic rock albums of the 70’s but with the overall heaviness of metal. It is an instrumental narration that can accompany anyone with an affinity to heavy music.

Or you could begin with “Tomb Of The Ancients”, where Spanish guitars introduce the song for about a minute and then come the lead guitars and the slow pace of drums until the second minute where everything turns into an assault to the senses. Riffs unto riffs, above the relentless drums. Then it folds back to melodicism keeping the intensity that it has already created to the point where it explodes again. The song does that again and again, creating greater circles around the main theme.

It’s the lead guitars that take this album to the next level. They carry these heavy, multilayered songs making them sit comfortably into the heart. This is a very well-crafted album and deeply emotional. Like a soundtrack of a silent movie, if that movie was an action, historical themed movie like Apocalypto, or the recent events around the Greek crisis, if you are Greek.

By the way, Tempel is duo. How do you like them apples?