Olde – Temple (Review)

Olde are a Canadian doom/stoner metal band and this is their second album.

Olde offer us some dark and heavy doom/stoner metal, worshipping the riff and generally invoking both rock and roll mayhem and sullen atmospheres to good effect.

Yes, the songs combine a modern stoner metal approach with a more traditional gloomy doom metal one, although there’s probably a bias toward the former rather than the latter. This duality usually manifests in songs that mainly have more than one or the other aspect in them, meaning that some tracks are more on the stoner metal side of the spectrum, whereas others have more of a slower, moodier persona. Of course, this should be taken in the correct context; these two main aspects of the band’s delivery are not completely separate.

There are some very catchy and memorable riffs on this release, and the drumming is quite notable too. There’s only seven songs on this album, but each has a lot of presence in its own right, and each has its own style and personality marking it as distinct from its brethren and easily identifiable.

Although the entire album is very enjoyable, I can’t help but feel that the band truly come into their own the slower they play. Maybe it’s just my own tastes making themselves felt, but these are the times when the band truly sound like they’re being themselves.

With strong songwriting and a knack for a good hook, this is a band that I could easily imagine being picked up by one of the larger labels in the future. On the strength of Temple, it would be a very wise investment.

Very highly recommended.