Temblad – Hallucignosis
Release Date: 18th May 2023
Label: Self-Released
Bandcamp
Genre: Death Metal, Extreme Metal.
FFO: Gorguts, Morbid Angel, Atheist, Voivod.
Review By: Andy Spoon
San Diego-based triad Temblad release their third mainstream offering, Hallucignosis on May 18th, 2023 to add to their impressive list of albums thus far, originating all the way back to their first EP in 2011. Inspired by Gorguts, Death, Atheist, and other early death megaprojects, It’s pretty clear that Hallucignosis is absolutely meant to add a contemporary touch to the class “wild” sound that is reminiscent of Gorguts and Cryptopsy (in this reviewer’s own opinion). Overall, it’s a damn-fine piece of death metal, and I think that fans of this genre ought to take notice of Hallucignosis.
The first thing you notice is the speed. There is an old-school thrashy vibe that sounds right out of the Earache records era of the southeast United States in the 1990s. There isn’t a huge swath of unnecessary blast beats, which gives a good glimpse of the background that these fellows are harnessing. It’s easily something that is deeply-settled into the same style as some of the early greats of death metal, something that gets my blood racing on almost every track. A fun game I like to play is listening to each track, and trying to hear the individual influence on each piece. Sometimes, I find myself thinking “oh that’s Morbid Angel right there”, or “oh yeah, there’s the Gorguts side”.
There isn’t any over-repetitive drone bleating you to sleep on the first couple of tracks. There’s quite a bit of variation in each track, allowing the listener to enjoy a wide array of breakdowns and rhythmic “vamps” that kept me looking forward to the next phase. One of the fun parts of Hallucignosis was the “clean” vocal segments, which sound like Voivod, one of the band’s noted influences. This is especially-prevalent on Dierex, the third track on the album. The vocals dance between in and out of tune (while still in tune), creating a clean harshness that is accompanied by the panic notes on guitar. If you were to imagine that Voivod crossed all the way over into full death metal, you might really appreciate that track.
While there are only six tracks, it’s noteworthy that some of the tracks eclipse the five or six minute mark, making the total album length significantly longer than the presence of six tracks might allude to. The Voivod influence continues into track 4, The Great Dying, which has a wonderful dissonant harmony akin to Alice in Chains’ style. It’s a great swirl of noise and brutal death metal. Unlike the first track, some element of blast beats is highly-present, giving another “feel” to the track. I wondered if this is something that
Hallucignosis is an amalgam of the band’s influences in most ways, not having one single identity or “sound” that defines them as a band or project. While the influences are clear and concise, it’s difficult in some ways to try and find a unique musical voice that is absolutely indisputable. If Cattle Decapitation or early Cannibal Corpse is the “peak” of stylized sound, I think that it falls short of making me immediately-able to say “oh yeah this is Temblad”; but I am also skeptical of putting them into a box this soon. I think that the pseudo-Voivod vocal riffs are stylistically-consistent, and could be something that makes them a holistically-unique experience to listen to. I think that the album is above-average in its delivery, recording, precision, and substance. There is generally a unique sound that pervades on a few of the tracks, which I want to attribute to them as a whole. Hallucignosis gets me hyped at certain times, but also slightly confuses me in others, making me think that the album could have more potential if the band settled into their own self-made genre of sounds. That’s only my opinion, though. Your mileage may vary. I absolutely enjoyed the album, and think these guys would be a riot to see live.
(3 / 5)
