Here at MMH like to get to get our teeth into something a little different, and the album In The Temple Of The Tyrant from Behölder certainly offers that! With a monstrous serving of doom and dark power, this debut album from Behölder is a fantastical and magical sword wielding musical journey into the world of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) and will be highly appreciated by fans of Memento Mori, Sorcerer and Candlemass, as well of course, D&D itself.
Formed in 2021 by the Shadowdance and former Power Theory guitarist Carlos Alvarez, Behölder is named after its namesake in D&D lore and evolved from Alvarez’s love of old school doom and D&D. When Alvarez was joined by John Yelland (Judicator) at the back end of 2022, the concept of the album began to evolve into reality.
Guitarist Matt Hodson and drummer Andrew Julkowski, both from Chaos Fame eventually added to the line up, bringing their prog metal backgrounds to the recording of the album which started in late 2023. Still missing bass, the band finally recruited Michael ‘Oneirous’ Sanchez (King Ov Worms and former Judicator) and the Behölder line up was complete. In The Temple Of The Tyrant was produced by Alvarez and mastered by Ronnie Björnström of Björnström Ljud & Produktion in Sweden.
Each of the eight tracks on the 50-minute album pays homage to some aspect of D&D, and you don’t need to be a player to get the most out of this album; the lyrics are strong enough to tell the tales even if you are a D&D virgin.
Pale Blood Sky opens In The Temple Of The Tyrant with Lovecraft and doom and its power overtones driven by the guitars really set the mood for the rest of the album. You can check out the official video for the track here:
Dungeon Crawl shifts slightly to more of a traditional heavy metal track complete with some decent riffs and the odd power metal phrase pushing through. Like its title, the third track does indeed descend Into The Underdark with its dark and doom-laden approach. Once again, the guitars really power through and for me, this was the first track where Julkowski really drives through with the drum line.
Taking a step back in tempo, Eyes Of The Deep is at times a more melodic offering, with additional vocals being provided by Tomi Joutsen (Amorphis), which I would say adds an extra dimension of prog, or even to some extent a death metal overtone to the track. Following on, the gentle opener to For Those Who Fell continues into a more melodic, yet still very doom-laden track. Draconian (Slave Or Master) has a ghostly opening, and like a number of the other tracks it also contains lyrics that question some of the philosophy of the scenarios that are explored.
The slow paced penultimate Summoned & Bound then moves into the final track I Magus where the pace powers up once more and album endings don’t always get it right, but I must say, I do think Behölder nailed it with the melodic refrain gently fading away to the silence.
Yelland is a powerful vocalist and the backing from the rest of the band really helps give 5* vocals across the album, and the guitars and bass work incredibly well together, with the strong drum lines helping push the dark power vibes through. Fundamentally this is a doom metal album but also offers up power and some prog and thrash influences as well as a hint of Lovecraftian pleasure throughout. If you appreciate doom or even just darker metal, then In The Temple Of The Tyrant is definitely one to add to your collection.
TRACK LISTING:
- A Pale Blood Sky
- Dungeon Crawl
- Into The Underdark
- Eyes Of The Deep
- For Those Who Fell
- Draconian (Slave Or Master)
- Summoned & Bound
- I Magus
LINE UP:
- John Yelland (lead and backing vocals)
- Carlos Alvarez (guitars and backing vocals)
- Matt Hodsdon (guitars and backing vocals)
- Michael Sanchez (bass and backing vocals)
- Andrew Julkowski (drums and backing vocals)
‘With a monstrous serving of doom and dark power, this debut album from Behölder is a fantastical and magical sword wielding musical journey into the world of Dungeons & Dragons…..’
In The Temple Of The Tyrant is released 25th April 2025 and you can pre-order and pre-save through Soundplate. You can find out more about Behölder on their Facebook page.
Special thanks to Black Lion Records.
