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Temple of the Smoke, …Against Human Race: Not Nearly as Mad as it Reads

Checking in from Serbia, the Belgrade double-guitar outfit Temple of the Smoke make their debut on R.A.I.G. in the form of …Against Human Race, an album that immediately sets about defying expectations. From the black and white inked artwork – courtesy of Nikola Vitkovi? – reminiscent of Scott Stearns’ manic style, to the album’s title itself, Temple of the Smoke set a course for abrasive, misanthropic sludge and then wind up somewhere else completely, blending almost entirely instrumental space rock, dub and the occasional stretch of heavy riffing to result in a widely-varied 57 minutes. Extensive use of synth ties the diversity together, and since all but one of the eight tracks are over five and a half minutes long, the material has plenty of time to flesh out, layers beginning to pile on immediately with opener “Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator.” Guitarists Janko Stojanovi? and Dušan Žica both also handle synth, and …Against Human Race puts them to work adding swirls and swells that seem to come in and out of the spaciest parts, making the whole album more complex and enriching the surprise of what it turns out to be. Temple of the Smoke riff heavy for most of the first cut, but as “Unnatural Regression” – the previously-alluded-to shortest cut at 4:39 – takes hold from a cold stop, drummer Dragan Mirkovi? introduces a drastic turn into bouncing reggae-influenced dub and right away the bearings are lost.

…Against Human Race, for all the vitriol the title seems to convey, isn’t actually that angry. As Marko Ili?’s smooth basslines underscore the laser sounds and easy-flowing soundscaped synth-itude of “Unnatural Regression,” the vibe is anything but hateful. There’s a peaceful aspect to what Temple of the Smoke are doing, and not even necessarily zoned or stoned out, just contented. That some of the songs are drawn together one into the next adds to the overall flow of …Against Human Race and helps ease the transition into and out of the differing sides of Temple of the Smoke’s sound. “Naked Sun” stretches nearly to 11 minutes and is the longest single track, but led into from the end of “Unnatural Regression” as it is, the shift is hardly noticeable. For about the first two minutes, the psychedelics have the floor, but gradually, Ili? comes in on bass and the song’s build begins to develop, eventually cycling through twice before the track is over. Ambition being a key factor throughout …Against Human Race, the progressive elements of “Naked Sun” aren’t such a surprise in the context of the whole album, but the almost-synthless flat-out stoner rock groove of “Deadly Sins” are yet another unexpected turn, cutting from Temple of the Smoke’s most complex offering to their simplest. The jammed-out feel of the preceding cut is maintained, but executed with a Sleep-style riff at the fore until the last minute, when frantic guitar soloing and overdriven bass speed the song to its finish.

By this time, 28 minutes and on the other side of the album’s first half, Temple of the Smoke can pretty much go wherever they want, and they do precisely that. Whispered vocals, reportedly care of Stojanovi?, top the peaceful guitar ambience of “Autumn World,” which picks up into surf rock immediacy in its later moments without ever really losing sight of that Yawning Man feel, and then “South of Heaven” offers …Against Human Race’s heaviest moment. Or maybe that’s just the Slayer effect. The song isn’t a cover, but there are some creepy Slayerisms in the interplay of the guitars. The basis is metal, though, and “South of Heaven” has Temple of the Smoke’s crunchiest and largest-sounding tonality. They hardly thrash, but the song is enough to give the impression they could if they wanted to. Rather, they bring the vocals to even further prominence on “Into the Storm,” which also revives the bass-heavy dub of “Unnatural Regression,” almost bookending …Against Human Race in a kind of mirrored structure. Fittingly, closer “Tortoise du Mars” is as spacey as was the opener (if less cumbersomely titled), reviving the synth/guitar focus and ending the album in a large crash followed by about nine and a half minutes of silence. “Tortoise du Mars” blends just about all of the pieces Temple of the Smoke have in their sound, except perhaps the reggae, and at its most active is a suitable payoff for the album’s numerous builds.

It ends heavy and satisfyingly groovy, and though the dead air at the end brings the runtime to nearly 67 minutes, …Against Human Race finds justification for its length in the diverse spirit of the songs comprising. And given that diversity, Temple of the Smoke’s debut is also remarkably cohesive as an album, aided once again by the transitions between tracks and the confidence with which the material is performed. Where a lot of space rock these days is content to jam into the deep reaches where telescopes fear to tread, Temple of the Smoke have a direction and an aesthetic in mind, and if nothing else, the album lays down the challenge for the band to work to combine the pieces that make it up into something singular as they move forward. But for a group who’ve been together for only a year at the time of the record’s release, …Against Human Race – despite its misleading title – is an impressive beginning and worth the several spins it takes to really get a handle on it.

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R.A.I.G.

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