Hailing from Asheville North TEMPTATION'S WINGS release their debut album this year. Given the name "Skulthor Ebonblade." A first attempt to give each attendant to their shows, an unforgettable ride through a bog filled with the ghastly remains of the vanquished in all the conquests that forge what we are today, as they did all throughout two thousand sixteen after being chosen to open shows for ICED EARTH all over North America. Reciting grand tales of bloodshed and conquest, as they post it themselves, the atmosphere created by this record transports the receptor to a realm of magic and brutality in the same universe, with frequencies that range from the sludge, death metal creeping of a monster depicted by CANNIBAL CORPSE or ENTOMBED to a sort of somber emulation of ZZ TOP, As said by the band itself, a chaotic but magnificent way of putting an outstanding album of epic proportions that allows for us simple mortals to peek into the mind of such a polyfacetic and creative set of musicians.

The guitar interludes are something out of a sci-fi movie where a hero is unleashed into an endless forest quietly surrounded by Martian amazons awaiting to strike, especially in the song "L' Destroyer" a rollercoaster of power and emotion wrapped up in an almost six-minute-long song. The unsteady cadences created by the union of the talent of this group of musicians, as can be heard in "My Name is Skulthor" and in the song, that stands as intro to the album "The burning of Hjalmar" is to grant motion to the less explored parts of our psyche and our very molecules through the combination of very low sound frequencies and adrenaline injections served as melodic passages and solos that break out of the icy confines into which it is set by the ever sludgy rhythm section.

The time has come to fall into the Maelstrom to find our destiny, a work of both mysticism and power in the full creation of a world that leaves us wanting to know more about the characters, the origin of their strange titles, and whether they are a reference to some previous and alternative form of art, or the product of the songwriters imagination to provide a sole concept for the album and its approach to the outcome of its creation regardless of modern tendencies and genre tags and limitations. A genius strategy if you ask me, the elements of a memorable debut album by a fiery creative band. Welcome to the Metal Temple, prepare to start this journey and endure to share a place amongst the great ones of all time.