SONG REVIEW: Temple of Shadows - "The Hanged Man"
Temple of Shadows coming in with an atmospheric masterpiece for their song, “The Hanged Man”
by Jesse Smith
With Ice Nine Kills coming to the forefront, leading the Metal/Horror Rock scene the last 2-3 years you may have wondered where long time member Justin ‘JD’ deBlieck has been. If you remember, he was the one shredding the Jason Vorhees guitar, dressed as Jason, and belting some of those piercing high screams that were immediately recognizable. Well, he has been producing some of the biggest hits the scene has seen and as well, finally releasing music under his new project Temple Of Shadows. TOS is a two man project that consists of JD and Joel DeMartino from the band Moonstriker, both which beautifully deliver a dual vocal performance in their atmospheric, dark and cryptic songs. You can really get the vibe from their new track “The Hanged Man”.
From the start, It is a completely different vibe from what you would think JD would release coming from his past catalog of music he has written and worked on. The song starts with an aerial vibe consisting of a slightly delayed soft guitar riff accompanied with a polyrhythmic drums that follows and accents the guitar. When the vocals kick in, that is when you can feel the song fully coming together. The vocal melodies and lyrics are definitely the focal point for this project, almost as if the vocals are guiding the music along, pulling the instrumentation behind it, dictating the direction of the song. Usually, you would feel the music start to shift signaling the vocals to follow, not here. You see that 45 seconds into the song when it went from breathy and airy soft tones to a transition to a more powerful diaphragmed blow that sent the song into orbit with their powerful and cryptic chorus. You can take the person out of metal but sometimes you can’t take the metal out of the person, through this song you get the little hints of JD’s signature writing style like the transition into the chorus. For a split second, you get a double bass, choppy tight guitar that following fans can appreciate. That and the signature screams that is almost a trademark at this point. The vocal diversity is what sets this song apart and is following in the progressive rock footsteps that bands like Spiritbox have brought to the limelight of the heavier music scene again. My personal favorite part, which I coin the climax of the song is after the second chorus, JD’s screaming vocals are accompanied with a very Periphery style build up that brings the more metal side of this project out and quickly changes into the grooviest drum beat you have heard that almost perfectly lines up and accents the synth that is deep in the mix.
New age progressive music is here and it seems to be coming back full circle with the storytelling aspect. As of now, Temple Of Shadows have two singles and both are named after tarot cards. The Hanged Man in tarot usually means a surrender, a sacrifice or just feeling like you’re being suspended in time. Keep that in mind when listening to this single, It goes deeper than just being a good song. As I said below, bands like Spiritbox really set the stage for music like this to bridge the gap once more between progressive rock and metalcore. The song is dynamic and isn’t all in your face all the time. It is methodical and calculated which I wouldn’t have expected anything different. Temple Of Shadows hit the nail on the head and I can see this band being the next one in the progressive headlines.