Doom Metal quintet OLDE formed in Ontario, Canada, in 2014. From their Facebook page "Inspired by a recording session with long-time stoner metal stalwarts SONS OF OTIS, guitarist/producer Greg Dawson (CUNTER, GRIFT)began to handpick and assemble OLDE, emphasizing a powerful and economic approach to Doom music. Enlisting the help of drummer Ryan Aubin (SONS OF OTIS), bassist Cory McCallum (FIVE KNUCKEL CHUCKLE), guitarist Chris "Hippy" Hughes (MONEEN) and vocalist Doug McLarty (JAWW) OLDE began to take form. The band came in to the studio one by one, having only heard Dawson's demos, having never laid eyes on anyone else in the band. Soon, the recording was complete and "I" was ready to terrorize the heavy metal countryside. The band eventually met in Dawson's driveway and everyone got along quite famously. Fast forward to 2017, and the band now presents their latest full length titled "Temple."

"Subterfuge" is the opening track. The guitars are down-tuned and laying on the lowest chords they can hit. The vocals are more in the shouted realm, thick with presence, and done in a higher range. The massive mid-tempo sound harkens back to the classics in the Doom genre. "Now I See You" is slower and lumbers forward like the heavy footsteps of a giant beast roaming a muddy landscape. The vocals rage with eyes aglow with fire. "The Ghost Narrative" opens with feedback, leading into a gloomy series of descending guitar chords that threaten to borrow into the very earth beneath you. If you haven't already been feeling downtrodden, this song will put salt into the wound.

You knew you were due for a longer song in this genre, right? The title track "Temple" clocks in at close to eight minutes. The entire time it plods along it just punishes you with a repeated riff that steals all hope from the world. "Centrifugal Disaster" is quicker in pace and this old school bomber jet gets off the ground despite its immense weight. "Maelstrom" has some opening fingerwork that remind me of riff master Tommy Iommi. The scale is so low here that the strings nearly vibrate off the neck completely. "Castaway" is an absolutely agonizing ending to the album. Imagine waking from a bad dream to find that you are the only person left in the world, and with no explanation. All the colors of nature have become grey and black and the world is a desolate wasteland. This is the feeling you get with "Temple" from OLDE.