FLESH TEMPLE is a Canadian Death/Doom Metal band and "Fire, Promise," is their debut EP. As far as EP's go, you could do a lot worse with the 24 minutes of time this will take you to bang your head to.   I listen to a lot of Doom but "Fire, Promise," is especially dark and grim to the bone. This debut is impressive because it isn't actually a band per say but instead a project by one man, Eli Elliott, who handles everything including production-the album sounds like what I would imagine plays in the background if I was ever sucked into a dark pit of hell.

Elliott's high shrieks/screams and lower growls/snarls are all delivered with the intensity of Death Metal the genre demands.  Although he can be clearly heard, his voice sounds more like he is screaming out from some dark, forgotten corner of despair, just waiting to be released.   Musically, they are definitely, as advertised, as Doom Metal but the aesthetics and atmosphere recalls the most profane Black Metal-it is indeed very creepy.  The raw is balanced out with very subtle elements of melody such as the halfway point of the first track, "Conduit."   Even with the dimmest of light penetrating the seemingly impermeable darkness, Elliott's fantastic, frantic, furious, and focused drums still keep FLESH TEMPLE focused on delivering the black.

The second track, "Tears," starts life as a slow burn; clean notes open the song but the glacier like riffs, so heavy and cold, rumbling through the senses.  A slow dance of double bass, solid riffs, and tortured vocals twist and crawl their way in.   The last portion of the song is melodic but the drums and bass keep the Doom moving right away; indeed, the EP is surprisingly good at tugging on the melody just enough to pull it through for a peak but not enough to keep the band from being heavy as hell-the melody is used to embrace the darkness rather than cast a saving grace upon it.

The title track is the one song presented here but it doesn't disappoint.  The earlier moments of "Fire, Promise," are filled with a guitar solo that is a bit more thoughtful in its approach-it uses the band's dismal sound to carry itself forward rather than completely over take it.  The ending of the song has some more lead guitar moments but they are very trippy, throwing the entire band into a place that you can't even imagine in your nightmares.This is a nice little EP and made me hungry for more of the band's music.  Fans of extreme music, even if they don't care for Doom (impossible, I know) will find a lot to like within these three tracks.  If you like Death/Doom this album needs to be in your collection ASAP.