Hi everyone, Bigthony Sweattano here, the internet's moistest music nerd, and it is time for a review of this new Temple Guard album, Citadel in Flames.

These guys are a loud-rock act based out of the UK. This is their second album, the follow-up to their debut, Spear of the Revenant. They also had an EP in 2024 titled Morbid Sacrament, but this album right here is my first introduction to their work. And honestly, this is a band that out of the gate very much knew what they wanted to do, the type of music they wanted to make, the message that they wanted to relay. And seemingly, on this new record, they have only figured out how to do it slightly better than they have before.

This is a band that at their baseline, I would say, showcase a whole lot of metalcore influences– between the beefy riffs, between the breakdowns all over this record, as well as sort of like the shouted, screamed lead vocals, the very forceful political ideologies that are put out there on this record. These guys, from what I can tell, are very pro-veganism, animal liberation, anti-war, anti-capitalism, not only is this made clear through their lyrics, but also through a series of vocal snippets and spoken word passages that are strewn about the album. Some of which do bring many of these tracks a very kind of eerie and unnerving feel, really kind of fuels the righteous anger throughout this record.

But again, I wouldn't say what the band is doing here is merely just a straightforward meat-and-potatoes metalcore-type experience. There are also a lot of death metal-influenced riffs and tremolo-style guitar melodies on this record, too. Lots of double bass, heavy, deep, guttural death growls, and occasionally on the back end of the record, blast beats and chord progressions that take on almost like a little bit of a black metal flavor, too. And the thing that I think makes this record just a bit sharper in comparison with Temple Guard's debut is not only is the messaging and the, honestly, poetry that goes into a lot of the lyrics on this record very direct and put maybe a little bit more creatively or written with, a certain level of urgency that I think their debut might have lacked in comparison.

But also, the guitar tones, the bass, the mixes on these tracks are fucking massive!When it comes to metalcore, when it comes to death metal, certainly there are records that you will hear this year that are, a lot clearer, a lot more crisp. Whew, but god damn! The beef and the bass on this record is crazy. It's heavy, heavy, heavy. It's heavy like a good Bolt Thrower album. It's like that kind of heavy. It's to the point I would say it kind of makes up for the lack of originality in some of these kind of like chromatic riffs and breakdown guitar passages, too. Because if there is a front on which I think Temple Guard could certainly be kind of improving, its with some of the guitar work on the writing side.

There is certainly a memorability factor here that's kind of an issue. And certainly some of these guitar passages tend to blend and bleed into each other as the record progresses as well. However, this is not an album that really overstays its welcome. Just like its predecessor, it is just 25 minutes in length. But the songs and progressions on here are still of a pretty decent length. It's not like the band is in a rush to get any of these songs finished. There's really only one on the back end where I think the ending was a little bit, how can I say, abrupt.

If there's anything keeping this album short, it is the track list. As we really only have a run of seven songs here plus an intro. I mean, it is being pitched as an album, but in a lot of circles, that's pretty much an EP's length. Still, what is here on the record is very hard-hitting, occasionally catchy, especially given the kind of interplay between the metalcore-style vocals and the death metal-style vocals and the versatility there. Especially on "Blood Makes the Rain Fall." "Set it out in flames!" Or on "a Vanguard Reforged," which features xRepentancex.

A lot of the shouted refrains on "Masked Resistance" also stand out quite boldly. I also appreciate in the lyrics how there is an intersectionality to their politics and their belief system. They're not just singularly obsessed with one single ill in the world or one single issue. Be it, again, animal liberation, neoliberal half-measures, the state of the environment, war, and genocide. They see all of these fronts as worthy ones to fight on and draw the connections together and sort of highlight that all of these issues and problems are coming from a similar source and reinforce each other in a lot of ways. Hence the Citadel in Flames title of the record, which obviously makes this album an ode to a burning world in a way.

Again, like I said, there is kind of a brevity to this record that keeps me, I think, from fully loving it, as well as a lack of versatility and creativity with many of the guitar riffs and leads. But beyond that, this record still has so much to offer in terms of its refrains, its messaging, its incredible riffs and sense of groove, everything they're doing on the vocal front as well.

And again, while I am not in love with this thing, the band is showing a whole lot of potential to records and to grow from here, considering the changes and improvements since their last record. And it's still one of the most visceral and cathartic riff fests you are gonna put your ears on this year, if you so choose. Which is why I'm feeling a light to decent 7 on this one.

Anthony Fantano, Temple Guard, forever.