The French Extreme Metal scene was for a long time a great reservoir of bands, and for those who are looking to find a good sound, this is the place. Among the groups who have delivered a high-level Death / Black Metal for over 15 years is TEMPLE OF BAAL, a trio that has earned its place among the respected bands in the French Metal scene. The subject of our review is "Verses Of Fire" the fourth upcoming full length album of TEMPLE OF BAAL, which is already starting to make noise around the specialized medias.

I must say first of all that since the first minute of listening, the album is very well produced, which added a pleasure to listen to it several times. In fact, we can easily distinguish all the instruments in a way to be able to decipher all the riffs and musical phrases. The style of TEMPLE OF BAAL in this album is a very clever mix between Black and Death Metal. Indeed, the Black Metal side is manifested in the dark atmosphere, cold melodies and the different topics discussed. But the Death Metal aspect shows obviously in the tunings far below the standard. And I can especially feel the MORBID ANGEL side in the use of bass guitar which accentuate the grooves for an excellent result.

With no less than an hour of very original extreme Metal, with relatively long pieces like "Walls Of Fire" which reached ten minutes, I noticed that the trend in the composition of the band is far from being linear. In fact, most of the arrangements are more thematic, which put forward a definite idea in every moment of the song. The use of more complex structures has really added positive aspects to the whole album; you have to listen especially "Gnosis Of Fire" and "Lord Of The Raging Seas". TEMPLE OF BAAL is also a temple of cold atmospheric melody with several harmonics, using the technique of tremolo and several long guitar solos, which marked my mind and my feelings.

It seems that the members of TEMPLE OF BAAL were able to give us a very good album. They did not choose the easy way, they took risks, and thanks to their determination, their opus will remain in minds for a long time.