Premiere: Smash potato aliens with Temnein’s melodeath anthem “Rise of the Sontarans”
Temnein wants to achieve greatness in the melodic death metal genre with Rise of Sontarans. Will they be able to shoot down the potatoes and obtain the crown?
Do not let the lockdown distract you from how much fun you can have with metal music. The easy route is to loathe your brain with self-deprecating hypnotism (not a bad take, at all), but sometimes you need that shot of adrenaline, y’know? And to get the sweet realization of that empowering boost of confidence we must turn ourselves to the power of the omnipotent riff.
When the riff is compact but powerful enough to move your foot while you grin maliciously with your arms crossed and your head bopping in a cheerful retort, you know the juice is flowing. And there is something about melodic death metal (modern, retro, tech or folk, whatever rocks your boat) that contains some purity inside.
As a melodic scholar myself, I will always defend the warriors in this niche. When a band is tight enough to encapsulate the golden ratio of expressive memorability and gnarly extremity in minutes, I can already feel that purity. However, there are bands like Temnein that go all over the place, writing evocative pieces in the old-school style and quickly switch to the anthemic nature of the mid-’00s scene.
This Temnein’s promo shoot is freaking awesome and I couldn’t leave it outside of this article.
Do you desperately need catchy guitar riffs? Big choruses? Fist-bumping action to share with your besties in a great Friday night? Rise of the Sontarans have it all for you with this fun video clip stuffed with nerdy references to the seminal work of Doctor Who!
According to the band themselves, this is the shortest track on their upcoming record Tales: Of Humanity and Greed, a powerful and very unexpected release on the long-forgotten shores of the melodic death metal subgenre.
“The lyrical concept is about the Sontarans, a group of belligerent characters which looks like angry potatoes and appears on the TV program Doctor Who. Directed by Vincent Tournaud, this video includes many references on Dr Who’s universe and shows a close friend of the band trying to cook potatoes that looks weird… Because those are Sontarans!” – Temnein talking about their video and weird potatoes
Opening with a sharp melodic motif in the modern style, the track evolves slowly but surely with the constant motion of the pedal riffing groove, functioning as a build-up for an infectiously fun jumpy guitar solo that ends in a sweet harmony. Fans of At the Gates, The Black Dahlia Murder, Amon Amarth, Mors Principium Est, Kataklysm and similar modern melodeath acts will rejoice together with these French pals raising their voices at the “They are the Sontarans!” chant. You bet your butt I am already joining this party!
If you are now inspired by our new discovery, be sure to crucify that Play button and check out Temnein’s video of this song, just like this chef smashes those potato-like mischief Alien clones to oblivion!
Before leaving today, I would like to talk to you a bit more about their forthcoming LP. Even though Rise of the Sontarans is their personal approach to the more festive side of this genre, they have different influences that inspired them to compose an album filled with contrast and emotion. According to their idea, the concept behind this album deals with stories of mythology and pop culture blended through a common theme: how humanity fails over and over again to achieve greatness.
Paired with this upbeat track, we will find traces of Dark Tranquillity and Insomnium on songs like “The Knotted Bag” or “I Am Davy Jones”, so to me it was a warm surprise to find bands like them carrying the torch in this subgenre. Now, I am adding Temnein into my watchlist, because they sound pretty good!
Tales: Of Humanity and Greed will be released this May 22nd worldwide. Physical release will go through Blood Blast and you can start following Temnein on Bandcamp and social media as well! Tell’em a Latino Half-Elf sends his regards!
