Review Summary: "But we carry lord Satan in our hearts and in our souls"
Spite's sophomore album 'The Third Temple' is difficult to describe without loading up on adjectives and hyphens as it so expertly blends together a vast array of influences to create a towering blackened achievement. The one-man band’s second album finds the black/death outfit scaling to new heights and carving out a place amongst the genre’s heavyweights. The riffy, heavy metal-infused offering found on this album is musically right at home with Mortuary Drape and Negative Plane.
Perhaps the expertise with which Spite executes its sound is a bit unsurprising considering that the man behind the riffs, Salpsan (Jesse Balgley), is the real deal. Amid playing in several bands, he’s previously toured as a drummer with Negative Plane and runs the acclaimed black and death metal record label Stygian Black Hand. He also tapped heavyweight underground musicians from Antichrist Siege Machine and Left Cross to flesh out Spite's live roster. Suffice to say Salpsan knew exactly what he wanted to achieve on this album, and exactly how to get there.
Spite’s latest album, released in late 2024, features driving, riff-forward blackened metal that wears its influences on its sleeve while churning them together and making something unique. You can hear the musical legacy from early Venom and Bathory to Mortuary Drape and Negative Plane but it never sounds rehashed or stale.
‘The Third Temple’ also builds on the foundation set by the band’s debut album ‘Antimoshiach’ both musically and lyrically. The riffs are catchier and more complex, the production is vibrant and fleshed out and the lyrics fit the instrumentals perfectly. Speaking of lyrics, they chart the rise of the Antichrist and the building of a new Third Temple dedicated to Satan. Steeped in Jewish mysticism, this album rips.
In interviews for another band, Ceres, Salpsan has gone on record about his love of heavy metal music and it shows on ‘The Third Temple.’ It’s obviously written by someone who has a deep appreciation for all of the ingredients that went into this album and who didn’t cut any corners. This is epic blackened heavy metal, or maybe black/death metal conjoined with heavy metal. Or maybe it’s heavy metal with black and death elements so perfectly infused and marinated together it’s impossible to separate the pieces from the whole. Like I said, it’s difficult to describe succinctly, but maybe “kickass” is the simplest way.
The album effortlessly flows from heavy metal grooves to earworm riffs to blackened blasts. Take “The Stone of Sakrah” which starts out with a marching, winding guitar riff that drops into a plodding bass passage before kicking into flailing black metal overdrive. The vocals are a raspy mid for most of the album, which fits the pummeling riffs perfectly.
Every song on this album has at least one head-turning passage. Maybe for you it’ll be the howls of “Desert Demons,” the laid back minor chord riffing on “Hounds of Herod,” the stomping grooves of “The Spoils of Judea (Dvir, Part 2)” or the gothic chanting on “Where Dust Cannot Fall.” The album builds to a crescendo with the excellent title track full of melodic, spiraling riffs and furious blackened tremolo picking.
My only minor complaint is that at just over an hour the album feels like it overstays its welcome just a tad. But all the songs are so well-written I couldn’t pick any to really cut or shave down, so maybe it’s just a me problem. With such a strong sophomore album, hopefully we won’t have to wait another six years for a third act. Go give this album a spin.
