Dead Sacraments - The Pale Temple and Others

Dead Sacraments is a doom metal band from Chicago, Illinois that formed in 2019. Their latest release, “The Pale Temple and Others,” is their second full-length album. 

This album is a gargantuan experience!  It consists of four massive slabs of doom, none of them under 10 minutes in length.  This is the kind of music I like:  long songs with a ton of depth and many great passages to them.  It’s expansive and deep but not to the point where it meanders off or loses track of itself.  The album is actually quite focused in every aspect, the song lengths running by smoothly.  I suppose some bands, even doom ones, bloat their music for the sake of it.  But that isn’t the case for “The Pale Temple and Others.”  Every second is used because every second is needed.

The songs don’t offer any real type of structure…this isn’t “verse, chorus, verse,” music and it’s all the better for it.  This allows each song to sound truly adventurous with real discoveries to be made for the patient listener. 

This is world building at its finest: each song contributes to the album as a whole but each one is also a self contained world that offers its own rewards for exploration.  This is definitely not an album that requires just one listen and you're done.   It needs to be experienced several times to truly appreciate it.  That’s great because the songs are so engaging, you’re going to want to hear them again and again.  

The presentation could be considered epic or traditional doom.  Mark's vocals are clean but they aren’t operatic or falsetto…just a good, even toned approach that soars–but it soars alongside the equally towering music instead of above it.  It makes for a very even listening experience that keeps the long song lengths from becoming exhaustive to the ears.  The production is basically perfect, capturing the mystical yet dour approach to the band’s lore.

Drummer Ryan handles the lyrics and has said the individual songs are a small piece of a larger picture that’s told in first person.   Each song has a narrator that is doomed to madness and death by their desire to transcend so there is, in Ryan’s own words, “a gnawing dissatisfaction featuring at the root of each song.”  

This can definitely be heard in the music, especially to a listener with patience and an ear for detail.  I sense a growing feeling of despair and trepidation in each song, in addition to the every mounting presence of danger. 

The album opens with “The Pale Temple,” and it goes hand in hand with the amazing cover art:  ancient, mysterious, mystical and even a little dangerous but filled with wonderment amongst the promise of fruitful returns. 

Less than a minute into the song, the album reveals one of its secret weapons:  vocal harmonies.  They are used in excellent, honest ways and make this song, and the other three, surprisingly catchy for the style they choose to play.  There is a hint of sorrow to them, a certain gloom that layers perfectly against the slow moving music.  Likewise, the lead guitar captures the mood as well but doesn’t take away from the riffs or act as filler—another piece of the tapestry.

The riffs after the minute mark are massive, fuzz laden and about as heavy as the temple of which is being explored. Brendan and Mark are hefty axmen, knowing exactly how to present their notes in a way that compliments the song.  Nader’s bass is as potent, an additional storyteller with a lot to say.  The movement at the 1:23 mark is ultra-slow; I’m always impressed with drummers who can handle such speeds, or lack therefore and Ryan handles it masterfully.

My favorite part of the song is the vocal performance that comes after the rumble of riffs at the the 8:30 mark.  From there the song is a dirge t through another land, a glacial romp that springs to life imaginative images.

The second song, or journey to be honest because that’s exactly what each song feels like, is “The Mountainside.”  The seconds begin with nothing but the bass opening up the adventure–it’s deep and haunting yet world building all at the same time.  The guitars and drums soon arrive and, much like its namesake, the song is high and mighty with a dense layer covering all in its path.  

The vocal harmonies are absolutely fantastic and ride alongside the music with an easy going flow.  The vocals are almost monastic in a way, similar to chants—I like it this a lot, adds to the veil of mystery that permeates the song, like clouds covering the top peak of a mountain. 

Around the 8:05 mark, the music pauses for a brief moment, allowing the vocals to shine before the hammer drops.  The drums and bass bring the rhythm down hard, ultra thick riffs that hit harder than a building caving in on your face.

The final two songs, “The Weeping Court,” and “The Starless Sea,” are my two favorites.  At this point, it feels like the album has grown more ominous and dark as if this entire time I have been part of an epic journey that brings me descending further into the unknown.

“The Weeping Court,” has a creeping, nervous energy as it slowly builds up.  The bass and drums act as the center, the rest of the band kind of growing around them until a full celestial body is formed.  

The vocals cry out, as if needing help from some unknown location.  They echo off these walls, bouncing off the song’s glacial body and movement.  The result is a huge song with a wide scope that seems to expand outward like some kind of living, spiritual being.  The drums pick up the tempo a bit towards the end, pulling itself along as it fills the air with the crackle of energy.   The guitar solo, which begins after the seven minute park, is emotional as hell but it doesn’t steal the show but rather complement all that came before it, is with it, and will continue to be.

“The Starless Sea,” consists of a slow groove that is surprisingly infectious and catchy.  The drums compliment the guitar so goddamn well, especially the cymbal and bass drum work.  Even more so than the other songs, the vocals and instrumentation meld into one huge force…vocals are an instrument too and these guys really understand that. 

The song grows more desperate as the second tick by until the 4:25 mark when all hell breaks loose.  The tempo is kicked up just a notch and all cylinders are fired.  Ever slow headbanged?  Of course you have.  If you haven’t, you will now.  The last few minutes are great as the guitars bang out row and row of riff as the song fades off to scattered drums and vocal harmonies.

Dead Sacraments’ “The Pale Temple and Others,” is a magic album that takes  me to a far off land.  Despite this land’s dangers and unknowable portions, it is always engaging and worth the time it takes to journey through.  Doom has been a hugely dominant genre this year (or every year because doom metal is just the best) and this album kicks the final parts of 2024 off on the right foot.