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The Merdümgiriz camp is nothing if not prolific. It seems like every time you turn around they’re released another evil and twisted take on black metal. The latest in their cavalcade of corruption is No Temple by Blliigghhtted. This particular project was founded by the mysterious and elusive Ruhan but No Temple is all the work of Yayla mastermind and Merdumgiriz co-owner Emir Toğrul. It was originally intended to be a Viranesir album but due to its blackness and Satanic totality it fit better under the Blliigghhtted banner.
For nearly 40 minutes the listener is subject to total sonic annihilation. Impossibly fast guitars create a hurricane of unrelenting, razor sharp bleakness stripping flesh from bone. Militant, frenzied percussion and technically scorching tremolos tear asses asunder dictated by titanic, full-chested and grim vocals issued forth with uncompromised force.
It’s not as monochromatic as that seems however. The whirlwinds of black metal terror crest into troughs of determined doominess and as the album develops, death metallic riffing compliments all the fire and brimstone. "The Lie" is eternally dark and sinister, overwhelming the listener. "Eschatophilia" starts with a mean, doomy riff then goes full on black metal then falls into what could be considered a groove before laying waste yet again.
While No Temple starts out dialed in to the release of Satanic fury, chaos reigns on later tracks, dissolving into the mindfuck that is "Voyage". "Anrita" starts the shift with haunting yet spat vocals leading into the arrhythmic thrashiness of "Constant Cancer". So by the time we hit "Voyage" the listener is forced to tremble under the chaos. Toğrul gets fired up, barely able to restrain himself through a possessed display of deadly percussion and fierce death metal-styled chugging filtered through a tangle of atonal black metal. It can get hard to follow, especially given the oppressive hatred pressed upon the listener up to this point but resisting only makes the grip tighter.
Entropy reigns supreme as any good Satanist knows, yet is the natural state of the universe so the descent into musical madness is only to be expected. Although thoroughly rooted in Satan, No Temple also shows the face of the despicable state of humanity, biting off the head of religious righteousness as it first envelopes then burrows deep, fusing into a rapturous, inescapable energy of Satanic maleficence.
Closing out the album is the 14+ minute ambient piece, "Doubt". It’s a synth-driven exploration miles removed from the hate and vitriol Toğrul spews forth on the previous 10 tracks. But as the band explained in a recent Facebook post, No Temple is about casting off confinement and exploring the world; rejecting expectations and forging one’s own path. This sad yet peaceful comedown does just that, taking a 180 from the negativity and coming to terms with plight.
With No Temple Blliigghhtted take a very different approach than they did on Which of You Have Done This? but given the incestuous nature of Blliigghhtted, Yayla and Viranesir nothing coming from Merdumgiriz should conform to expectation. It’s a nightmarish and terrifying journey through damnation that leaves an unsettling impression.
