As far as we know, the first hint of what the German band Terra Builder had concocted for their debut album Solar Temple was a song named “Abyss” that first surfaced on the Transcending Obscurity Records label sampler released in January of this year. What kind of musical message did it send us?
Well, in a nutshell, it communicated the band’s desire to beat the living hell out of people and gouge out their guts, while simultaneously pouring nightmare fuel into their ears and screaming bloody murder in their faces. Viscerally propulsive, insidiously infectious, and fear-inducing in its atmosphere, it proved to be a damned good teaser for this solar temple they had made out of death metal and grindcore, along with hints of sludge and black metal.
Patiently biding our time, we’ve been waiting for more, and now we (and you) have more. We haven’t been exposed to the whole album yet, nor do we know its release date, but we have been given another track to share with you, and this one is named “Interplanetary Portal.”
That song “Abyss” was built around a muscle-triggering jackhammer groove — one of the tools with which Terra Builder administered the beating, augmented by skull-hammering drumwork and bowel-rupturing bass lines. Grisly braying chords, imperious roars, and weirdly warping guitar-leads underscored the song’s gruesome heartlessness. The screams, well they were berserk.
As for the nightmare fuel, that was blended from dismal slithering leads, bouts of beastly stalking heaviness, and waves of distressing tremolo’d melody, both eerily haunting and pernicious.
What now lies on the other side of Terra Builder‘s “Interplanetary Portal“? More beatings for sure, but compared to “Abyss” it sounds even more maniacal. This time the berserk screaming is matched by the thunder of percussive automatic weaponry, frantically boiling riffage raked by pick squeals, and a general air of savagery run amok.
But let’s not forget the name of the song, or Terra Builder‘s already-proven penchant for shrouding brute-force trauma and bestial ferocity with other unearthly ingredients that chill the blood. Those come through again here, injected by feverishly sizzling fretwork that channels frightening dementia and ruinous desolation.
Well, it’s only two songs, but pretty good evidence that Transcending Obscurity has found another winner, though they sound more like a Terra Ruiner than a Terra Builder. The cover art by Micha Schneider/Obetoblack seems tailor made for the music. Keep an eye on the locations linked below for more info about Solar Temple.
TERRA BUILDER is:
Guitar & Growls: Tobias Buck
Guitar: Ben Guddorf
Bass: Lutz Lambert
Drums: Yannick Bussweiler
Throat: René Wichmann
TRANSCENDING OBSCURITY:
Main Store – http://tometal.com
Bandcamp – http://transcendingobscurity.bandcamp.com
US Store – https://transcendingobscurity.aisamerch.com/
Europe Store – http://transcendingobscurity.8merch.com
TERRA BUILDER:
https://terrabuilder.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085171787474