TEMPLE OF BONES have signed to Relapse Records, who will release the band's debut album "Walk The Winds" on November 13. First single "Black Horizon" is streaming now.
The line-up is the reason to pay attention. Vocalist Scott Ruth and drummer Brandon Thomas both played in RIPPING CORPSE, the New Jersey band whose sole album, 1991's "Dreaming With The Dead", is one of the more quietly influential death metal records of its era — partly on its own merits and partly because one of its guitarists, Erik Rutan, went on to MORBID ANGEL, HATE ETERNAL and eventually CANNIBAL CORPSE. Rutan is not involved here. Ruth and Thomas carried on after RIPPING CORPSE into DIM MAK, and both are now joined by guitarist Mike Schweigert of LORD STERLING and FULL SPEED AHEAD and bassist Dennis Carroll of TORTURE KRYPT, himself also a DIM MAK alumnus.
It started, as these things tend to, with a text message and a folder of unused riffs. "A couple years back I started coming up with some riffs and I really wanted to hammer them out with a drummer," Schweigert said. "So, I sent Brandon a text asking if he'd want to work on them and see if we could make something of them and if we did, maybe demo them. Slowly, we realized we needed a bassist and vocalist and that's when Dennis and Scott started jamming with us too and really solidified the band."
What came out of it is not the death metal record the pedigree might suggest. TEMPLE OF BONES work a seam between black metal, thrash and hardcore, and the band are open about not landing cleanly in any of them. Phil Caivano of MONSTER MAGNET produced the album alongside the group.
"Black Horizon" leads with double kick and riffs cut short and sharp rather than drawn out. Ruth's lyrics across the record deal with strife, survival and getting through it; "Sky Is Like Ocean" and "Lowly Demon" go at the uglier end of that. Six songs in total.
"Walk The Winds" comes out on LP, CD and digital. Preorders are open now.
"Walk The Winds" track listing:
- Black Horizon
- Sky Is Like Ocean
- Walk The Winds
- Locust Thorns
- Lowly Demon
- Cut With Rusty Saw
Listen and preorder: relapse.com