TEMPORAL DRIVER ~ A TREATISE OF SORCERY: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO MYSTICISM IN MAGIC ..... review

There is not much we can tell you about Temporal Driver's line-up, other than they are a four piece and they hail from Denver, Colorado, even that font of knowledge Encyclopedia Metallum has failed to come up with a list of personnel for this band despite these guys being active on all the usual social media sites. Given that the title of their debut is "A Treatise of Sorcery: The Definitive Guide to Mysticism in Magic" this air of mystery sort of works in their favour and gives those who don't know the band on a personal level a feeling that they are dealing with four Grand Wizard's who if their true identities were discovered would turn the discoverer into a toad or something much worse. The band describe their music as a "combination of desert rock and stoner metal with a basis in doom" and there are no arguments to be found here on that account as that is exactly what it is.

The desert rock aspect of the bands sound is thrust right to the front on the intro to opening number "Enter: Hototo" with twanging guitar textures accompanying sampled narrative telling of the delights and dangers of LSD before things quickly go doomic with low slow and heavy riffs and rhythms framing a mixture of powerful clean and guttural vocal tones with those cleaner tones having a slightly gothic edge, a highly impressive introduction to Temporal Driver's musical world. Following number "Tie The Devil Down" ups the tempo somewhat and has a groove very much in stoner/hard rock territory but what really grabs the ear about this song is its vocal which boasts an almost theatrical/shock rock feel in places. Next track "Marooned In Reality" mixes a smidgeon of the blues with its doom, crunching guitars and basement low bass driven by solid unfussy drumming over which a clean semi crooned vocal tells its tales of misery and despair. Those desert rock flavoured guitar tones return for "Ms Callin" a highly enjoyable, if somewhat sinister, tome with superb lyrics and a vocal melody that'll stay in your head for days. "Grasstronaut" is a low slow "weedian" flavoured opus that nods its head to Sleep and bands of that ilk while final number, "The Divine Oration", finds Temporal Driver jamming a groove that sits somewhere between Dopelord and Bauhaus with a vocal that leans closer to the latter than it does the former, the song serving as a mind-blowing finale to a mind-blowing album.

Desert Psychlist was not sure what to expect when we pushed play on Temporal Driver's "A Treatise Of Sorcery: The Definitive Guide To Mysticism In Magic", the artwork gave nothing away and that big wordy title suggested a complex and convoluted prog-like concept piece. What we got however, when we finally did press play, was a powerful dark and dank assemblage of songs tinted with elements of doom, desert rock, psych and British goth, an album that any lover of good melodic heavy music would want gracing their collection. 

Check it out ....

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