"Sing, goddess, of the anger of Achilles.../ Hurled to Hades many strong souls of heroes..." these lines have echoed unhindered through the ethereal halls of culture and humanity for millennia influencing figures from multiple walks of life, from writers contemporary to Homer, to conquerors and leaders the world over. TEMPLE OF DREAD is no exception to these names and have themselves unveiled unto the world a new LP heavily influenced by antiquity entitled Hades Unleashed.

The 9 track piece opens with the song, "Aithon's Hunger," a reference to the ancient king, Erysichthon-made mention in the Odyssey as Aethon-who sold the whole of his possessions and hid daughter into slavery in order to attempt to quell his insatiable hunger; the song breathes in desperation creating a tone of despair, loss, and anger whereupon the theming of the lyrics is mirrored exceptionally well tonally. "Wrath of the Gods (Furor Divinus)" the track features jarring ascensions, cutting riffs, and headbanging phrases seamlessly transitioning into one another. "Threefold Agony" begins with a Thrash kind of progression slowing down in a near similar modulation for the verse; the break turns the song on its head shifting focus towards a powerful and creeping progression in lieu of the relentless force that led up to it returning once more to this motion as the song fades upon its outro. "Crypts Of The Gorgon" has an intricate introduction featuring a pairing of leads and rhythm interwoven into one another; the song as a whole is built on instances that create tension, those of cacophonous harmony or of rhythms that alter drastically in dynamics and pairing, and of course in regards to the lyrical subject itself seemingly directly referencing Perseus' interaction with Medusa. The last song on the album, "Procession to Tartarus," commences with a kind of hymn or chamber melody sung in low sustaining melismatic notes not dissimilar to our modern understanding of what Ancient Greek music sounded like returning once more for the outro.

The three-piece has crafted an immense sound for themselves as each member builds off of one another in incredible succession and force. The guitars are alarmingly distinct, eerie, and deeply saturated such that every dissonant chord and harmony pierces the soundscape in bitter expression; the bass is partially buried behind the kick and guitars but manages still to create a foundation for the rest of the band; the drums are, as the others, well balanced in the mix and tend to tie the variances of the strings together with great ease; last, the vocals are bitter and angry adding a forceful acrimonious sound to every track.

Temple Of Dread manages to deliver on multiple fronts inclusive of expressing antiquated legends through Death Metal, for anyone who is a fan of the genre "Hades Unleashed" has a lot to offer, and for anyone with a penchant towards Greek mythology that affinity is only made exponential.