{"id":8459,"date":"2022-02-06T13:37:33","date_gmt":"2022-02-06T12:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kessel-tamerus.nl\/Esthers_Blog\/?p=8459"},"modified":"2025-11-30T11:49:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T10:49:29","slug":"temple-of-switches-temple-of-switches-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kessel-tamerus.nl\/Esthers_Blog\/cd-recensie\/temple-of-switches-temple-of-switches-four\/","title":{"rendered":"Temple of Switches – Temple of Switches Four"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Temple of Switches is a studio prog band from California, founded by multi-instrumentalist Tenk van Dool. ‘Four’ is the band’s fourth album, on which you can hear a mixture of rock, jazz and classical influences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Welcome’ has the catchy start of a rock song, followed by electronic sounds and later organ music, among others. The changes are mainly reflected in which instrument is pushed to the foreground. Besides that, the sound flows back and forth nicely in the headphones. Especially in the strongly played sections, it is noticeable that the sound is somewhat dull. At the end there are some sound effects. The vocals in ‘Your Fly is Down’ sound distorted. It suits the sarcasm in the lyrics, but you have to like the distorted sound. The lyrics are not in a real booklet, but printed on a kind of flyer. Reading along is quite a challenge.
The distribution of high and low tones is good, the bass sounds nice and groovy.The rest just before the second minute almost feels like a drop-out because there is still some sound to be heard. Vocal parts are alternated with wide instrumental parts. The fade out is a bit pity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘The Wind’ has a quiet start in terms of music and vocals. You can hear the recognizable voice of Amanda Lehmann. The clear sounds of acoustic guitar fit well in the subdued part. You notice the turn to the instrumental ‘Pareidolia’. But the music fits so well together that you hardly notice that this is a new track. The sound is generally more clear here, and where it is slightly dull, it suits the mysterious music. There are subtle changes, but this track remains quiet and mysterious until it fades out nicely. \u2018Dale’s Neglected Song’ has a drum solo as its opening. The drums and cymbals have a nice sound. But further on, the sound of the cymbals is too tinny. The recurring drums remain beautiful in sound. The balance between melody and rhythm is good, with some moments the pace is quite high. If this were a live band, the drum solos at a gig would surely be extended. In this catchy song you can hear the different pitches of the drums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The quiet music in ‘The Unfurling’ sometimes has a spooky atmosphere, this fits the few words this song has. The distorted voice could have been a bit lower, that would have fitted better in the whole, and probably would have been more pleasant to listen to. During instrumental parts, tempo and volume go up, this is alternated with subdued parts. You can hear jazz influences, various details and added sounds. This special epic ends appropriately with a slow fade out. ‘Lemongrass and Thyme’ has a lovely calm intro with warm sounds. Tenk interprets his text half-singing, half-talking. This low and slow way of singing gives me a bit of a Johnny Cash feeling. The music gets a bit more volume, slowly the Johnny Cash atmosphere disappears. Yet the flow of this last song remains pleasantly dreamy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A dull layer lies over part of the music. This makes the many details and changes in volume less effective. Sometimes there is a difference in sound within one song. Then the bass sounds too dull, while the guitar playing is better. Not everyone might like the distorted sound of Tenks’ voice. But in the low vocals, his voice has a pleasant timbre. The lyrics are not always easy to fathom. You might have trouble keeping your attention fully on the vocals and the music at times. ‘Four’ definitely needs to grow on you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(76\/100) (Own Management)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

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