{"id":777309,"date":"2026-05-06T13:11:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T13:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/777309\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T13:11:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T13:11:13","slug":"grond-the-temple-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/777309\/","title":{"rendered":"Grond – The Temple Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Ten long years passed since Grond<\/strong><\/strong> released Worship the Kraken, a fun and meaty slab of Bolt Thrower<\/strong>-meets-Autopsy<\/strong><\/a>-meets-Lovecraft madness. With such a protracted lull in recording activity, I was sure there was never going to be another Grond<\/strong><\/strong> record, but lo and behold, The Temple peeked above the horizon just enough for me to catch it on the approach. I quiver with anticipation to see what cosmic horrors await me there.<\/p>\n

Grond<\/strong><\/strong> is the same stomping monstrosity that left the world all those years ago, muscular and be-tentacled as ever. Their Bolt Thrower<\/strong> riffs and nasty bass tone still take center stage, ensuring that any listener\u2019s face scrunches up in grotesque relief (\u201cWeddigen,\u201d \u201cSubmergence\u201d). A Temple of Void<\/strong><\/a>-like doom\/death shroud adorns The Temple in shadowed moods and ominous atmosphere, creating a vastness of scale and stature Worship the Kraken didn\u2019t have (\u201cU-29,\u201d \u201cDreadnought\u201d). Much like other modern old-school revival acts like Frozen Soul<\/strong><\/a>, simplicity is Grond<\/strong><\/strong>\u2019s best friend, choosing reliable parts and pieces of the death metal arsenal to ensure maximum impact in their songwriting. Thankfully, Grond<\/strong><\/strong>\u2019s high-fantasy horror theme, frightful guitar pyrotechnics in solos and flourishes (\u201cDreadnought\u201d), and beefy production help set The Temple apart from contemporary examples of the style and make for a highly engaging 48 minutes.<\/p>\n

The Temple 2026 by GROND<\/a><\/p>\n

At first, though, I wasn\u2019t sure if The Temple justified its ten-year incubation period. It\u2019s their slowest, their longest, and arguably their simplest record in terms of structure. I wondered if this meant it offered less substance or weaker engagement. I was wrong. Without sacrificing heft or extremity, Grond<\/strong><\/strong> doubled down on accessibility and groove to make The Temple their most easily digestible outing thus far (\u201cPour le Merite,\u201d \u201cRadiant Fury\u201d), but they made considerable effort using accessibility to their advantage. In place of compositional complexity, odd time signatures, or speed, wild lead guitar exhibitionism, gut-punching bass burbles, and clever drum fills abound. This trade, in turn, makes even the most straightforward cuts exciting and distinctive (\u201cThe Temple\u201d). Furthermore, revisits uncover even more nifty details and entertaining embellishments\u2014again sourced primarily from the guitar work\u2014that bring depth and charm to The Temple for which initial impressions don\u2019t account.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Temple boasts many traits and nuances that not only make it a joy to return to, but also help shrink its inflated runtime, yet some areas could still use a trim. At a bloated six-and-a-half minutes, the title track only barely justifies its length with the strength of its guitar work, but would be stronger still with a full minute or so hacked off the first half for brevity. In fact, most of The Temple\u2019s nine tracks toy with that ambitious six-minute barrier. While a vast majority of them don\u2019t feel nearly that long, they all have at least one small grouping of measures that, if culled, wouldn\u2019t detract from the compositions to which they belong (\u201cWeddigen,\u201d \u201cDark Solitude of the Sea,\u201d \u201cU-29\u201d). Additionally, instrumental intro \u201cRotter Himmel\u201d adds very little to the whole except to tumble right into the opener proper. At three minutes, it begs either to be nipped, tucked, and integrated into \u201cWeddigen,\u201d or to be cut altogether.<\/p>\n

Aside from a spot of bloat, there\u2019s a lot to enjoy in The Temple. It\u2019s a rare kind of classically informed, doom-tinged, mid-paced death metal that grows with every spin. Grond<\/strong><\/strong> achieved that grower status with their third LP, and it was worth the ten-year wait. It might not be a groundbreaking album, but competes well in its field and pairs very nicely with other Lovecraft-inspired death metal from the likes of Sulphur Aeon<\/strong><\/a> or Corpsessed<\/strong><\/a>. So if that\u2019s your bag, Grond<\/strong><\/strong>\u2019s your monster. Choose your vessel, and enter the gate The Temple!<\/p>\n

Rating:<\/strong> Very Good
DR:<\/strong> 5 | Format Reviewed:<\/strong> ~260 kbps VBR mp3
Label:<\/strong> XTreem Music<\/a>
Websites:<\/strong> grond.bandcamp.com<\/a> | facebook.com\/grondrus<\/a>
Releases Worldwide:<\/strong> April 30th, 2026<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ten long years passed since Grond released Worship the Kraken, a fun and meaty slab of Bolt Thrower-meets-Autopsy-meets-Lovecraft…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":777310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[12086,63696,292576,6265,318395,318396,63701,23639,171,229479,318397,975,2290,11853,318398,318399,318400,318401,67,132,68,318402],"class_list":{"0":"post-777309","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-12086","9":"tag-3-5","10":"tag-apr26","11":"tag-autopsy","12":"tag-bolt-thrower","13":"tag-corpsessed","14":"tag-death-doom","15":"tag-death-metal","16":"tag-entertainment","17":"tag-frozen-soul","18":"tag-grond","19":"tag-music","20":"tag-review","21":"tag-reviews","22":"tag-russian-metal","23":"tag-sulphur-aeon","24":"tag-temple-of-void","25":"tag-the-temple","26":"tag-united-states","27":"tag-unitedstates","28":"tag-us","29":"tag-xtreem-music"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116527805502108238","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}