Solar Temple is a Dutch raw/atmospheric black metal band. The band’s first ever release has already been picked up by the well-known/respected label Fallen Empire Records. It is hard to find any information about Solar Temple but that can’t obstruct a review of this one track demo called ‘Rays Of Brilliance’.
From the begin of the cassette, Solar Temple creates an eerie vibe around the music they produce. A very eerie preachy voice lingers in the background while a less chaotic Icelandic-type of black metal plays right in front of you. As you might expect from atmospheric black metal, this is not the type of bird-chirping-rain-forest-sound black metal, it’s the long mesmerizing riffs-type of atmospheric black metal. And that could be annoying but Solar Temple has a little surprise halfway throughout the only track on this demo called ‘Rays Of Brilliance’.
The mesmerizing riffing of Solar Temple evolves into a mellow ambient part which suits the song extremely well. The haunting ambient bits really gives this song its eerie melancholy it deserves. Slowly it goes back to the long riff’s the band has produced for this song. What I really like about this release, are the groovy drums in the second part of the song. Sounding almost doom metal like, it gives the track a new dimension.
A very good impression of what the next Solar Temple is going to sound like. Hopefully they release more tracks soon. 8 out of 10.
Review done by Bonno Zwaan