10 years of Australian Extreme Metallers TEMPLE NIGHTSIDE has seen some 11 releases and a number of barnstorming shows. What would be a better way to celebrate this fantastic milestone than a reissue of their demo that started this journey. Reissued with new artwork and a bonus track to close it out. The artwork on the reissue shows what appears to be an older image of a statue, which really sits in the stereotypes of Death or Black Metal and isn't a far cry from the original releases artwork.

Opening is "Malediction Evangelist (Commune 1.1)" an introductory track that builds from an innocuous beginning. Developing an ambience and atmosphere that is chilling before the explosion of the wall of sound from "Incipit - Relinquished". The production, having been remastered, was below my expectations. There were times that the music itself was too dense to navigate, the vocal track especially was hard to discern initially and the overall standard for me was just subpar. That really detracted my attention from the music, mainly because at times it was simply delivering this vast impenetrable wall of noise that I was struggling to get to grips with.

It would appear that the odd tracks, or those with (Commune x.x)" in the title were developed and used to grow into the following tracks. Something that could be used to great effect at live shows. It serves to give the musicians a bit of a break and rile up the crowd whilst maintaining that dark and dank atmosphere. "Acolyte Abomination" is again a bit of a disappointing track, for me the levels were just simply all off. I understand that this can be an effect used in certain circles, but especially in this track, the overbearing presence of the drum tracking really downplays it's musicality. The guitar line really keeps the atmosphere in check and actually does a fantastic job of maintaining that ghoulish and disturbing ambience, I can't help but feel a more delicate drum tracking would have helped to accentuate that further.

"Twelve Divinations Of Spheres Beyond" and "Somnambulant Of The Void - Cogitating Vacuous" are, once again, much of a muchness. There is so much promise sitting in the music. It is so obvious that TEMPLE NIGHTHOUSE are a talented group. But the music is too often devalued by the poor production. I like to write reviews as I listen to the music, to ensure that these are my fresh thoughts, untainted by over analytical thought, but I made an exception and I listened to the album a number of times, and each time I could not help fee that I was forcing myself to get through it. It is dense, heavy, claustrophobic and suffocating. I feel that there was maybe a bit too much emphasis on the Extreme part of Extreme Metal and that it seriously detracted from the music.

But, this is simply my opinion. The fans of TEMPLE NIGHTSIDE have been supporting them at home and abroad for the last decade and seen some good success. There is clearly a base for this style but unfortunately it didn't do much for me. Some minor tweaks, mainly shifting the levels about a bit and this has the capacity to be so much better I feel.