‘TEMPLE’ – 10 years on – Words and Photos @djsedick
It’s 5.45 on a Friday and I’m heading over to Brunswick to shoot my friend Rob’s band TRANSIENCE
They’re headlining the show so I don’t technically have to be there for hours but Rob is a prolific band photographer in Melbourne and has banged on so much about the opening act that I need to see them for myself
@lordrobsatan – the biggest advocate for local music I’ve ever met – never competitive, never bitchy, never petty – just constantly supportive of everyone
Anyway, I’m getting off topic, a terrible trait of mine and the reason that I’m the pictures person not the words person (give me a story to tell and I’ll end up telling you at least three)
The show tonight is a 10th anniversary show for the incredible album ‘Temple’ that TRANSIENCE released in May 2015
When I say the album is incredible I’m not exaggerating – a masterfully written and impeccably produced prog album that runs the gamut of haunting and energetic with a style that can only be accomplished when the right musicians find each other and click together like Voltron with Rob’s soaring vocals at the head.
When I first met Rob he was fronting a metal band called TRIBURA – fat stompy grooves with shades of Mudvayne and Korn and Rob’s vocals predominantly dirty dirty gutturals mixed in with a heart squeezing fry and the occasional Maynardesque (totally a real word) clean thrown in.
After TRIBURA disbanded Rob was involved in plenty of other bands – DIALYSIS – THE SYMBIOSIST – HATCHET DAWN – but it wasn’t until Transience that he truly showcased the heights his voice could achieve.
His false chord hits in the gut and his high fry you’ll feel in your chest but it’s his soaring cleans which dominate the album. Man his cleans are fucking beautiful and they’re showcased here in their full glory
The album starts with ‘Anglophobia’ introing with some discordant string instruments that sound almost like a few members of an orchestra tuning up before the creepy goes away and we’re straight into a fat bass heavy groove with a gorgeous guitar riff running quietly through the background
No vocals on this track it’s just warming us up for what’s to come but fuck me what an opener, there’s no way you don’t want to keep listening.
As the album progresses the true genius of it is that you are so captivated by the poetry that Rob has written and the haunting beauty of his voice that you can’t help but pay attention to THAT, which obviously means you have to listen AGAIN to take in the rest of it and again and probably again, Yeah it’s on regular rotation now – welcome to the club
Holy shit those guitar tones are so sweet I might need an insulin injection, and unlike most bands they seem to sit behind the bottom end most of the time, Tim and Bob talking to you subliminally while you’re paying attention to the stompy backbone of bass and drums that want your body to move.
Andrews bass is so huge and Lukes drum sound is so clean and punchy that it makes me want to pick up sticks again – inspiring fat noise that moves your feet and nods your head without you even realising, you WILL move – maybe not every time, it depends on where your head’s at when you listen I suppose.
The lyrics are so poetic and speak so relatabley of loss, pain, anger and heartbreak that it’s a cathartic album when you need a furious break things sing along or a good soul cleansing cry BUT when you’re NOT in a place that needs an emotional release and you just want a good dance it’s that too
‘Nails’ would have RULED the dancefloor at Goo, back in the days when the biggest nightclub in the southern hemisphere got thousands of alt kids out til stumps on a school night, home at 6am and headed to uni at 8, Those were the days (don’t even get me started on the $3 basic spirits and dollar pots – we had no idea how good we had it).
Has it aged well? I think so, it definitely sounds like a product of its time but at no point do you listen to it and think it should have been left there.
It’s criminal that this isn’t on everybody’s radar, it’s absolutely world class and should be being played in arenas – Wembley – Red Rocks – Donington – Rod Laver
Then again I’m an old person and I’m also friends with the artist so I’m probably not the best judge
Maybe you should give it a spin and judge for yourself
