You didn’t think New Hampshire’s Temptress would let you say goodbye to 2022 without dropping a slick jam or two or three, didja? Even better, Temptress is closing out the year with A WHOLE NEW RECORD! Inhabiting that crawlspace where the Electro excellence of both Rammstein and Static X lie while also exhibiting the immediacy that made Gravity Kills stand out from the rest as well as the refined elder statesmanship of later Sister Machine Gun, Temptress is back with a kind of modern Electronic Metal hybrid that only they could produce.
Kicking it all off with “Nothing To Show”, Temptress immediately create a familiar techno-organic atmosphere that’s mechanical yet malleable leading toward the banger that is “Enough” which positions the New Hampshire outfit in familiar territory and firing on all cylinders to give listeners that definitive “Temptress sound”. “Negative Game” is built from epic Electro blasts and a sturdy beat, “Come Alive” is simultaneously wistful and propulsive, and “The Freshman” is… wait, what? Not that “The Freshman”, right?!? Yep, it’s The Verve Pipe one. And Jake Funk does a spectacular job in the Brian Vander Ark role with Anthony Coy crafting a meticulous synth-fueled airy dreamscape that manages to capture the spirit of the original. In a Temptress way.
“H3X” was released back in the Spooky Season and makes even more of an impact when following that aforementioned cover for a track that’s gargantuan in scope surrounded by grinding guitar tones and primal beats while “Kill Today” settles into a nice groove that’s like this electrified mix of Gravity Kills and Bile at times. “Amber Love” shares some similarities with Rammstein’s “Auslander” then veers off into a hyperstylized world of its’ own with Funk’s voice drifting in and out of the mix like an ethereal presence, “FIVE.SIX.FIVE” lingers nicely in an early ’90’s Industrial Metal zone, and “Ashes To Ashes” follows the vicious vocals from the previous track to build its’ own nasty thumper that might be the heaviest thing Temptress has committed to tape thus far. Traversing a line that’s playful yet potent, “What You Did” closes out this 2022 edition of new Temptress music with a nifty hypnotic anthem that’ll have you immediately starting this whole record over so you can experience it again and again and again.
Area Of Effect is out now! You can get yours to stream or download when you head here or here and for the latest from Temptress, follow the trail of socials by clicking here, here, or here.