THE TEMPTER

Turpis Rex

METAL BLADE Former Pungent Stench sticksman dives back into the mire

After several decades with Pungent Stench, drummer Alex Wank had established his dedication to stomachchurning extreme metal by the time this hitherto unreleased, one-off project slithered from (and back to) the depths a decade ago. What long-term fans wouldn’t have been expecting is how far into black metal’s hellish mire The Tempter would stride. Brute force is a given but where Pungent Stench were knowingly sloppy and grotesque, these mostly slow-burning lurches are stately and grimly grandiose. The riffs hail directly from the Hellhammer school of roiling dissonance, but the songs have a warped charm that is entirely their own.

FOR FANS OF: Triptykon, Pungent Stench, Mortuary Drape

DOM LAWSON