UMUR "My Friend Lonely" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US thrash metal act Cyclone Temple. The album was released through Monsterdisc in 1994. After Znöwhite broke up, several of the members from that band formed Cyclone Temple in 1989. Cyclone Temple released their debut full-length studio album "I Hate Therefore I Am" in 1991 and the "Building Errors in the Machine" EP in 1993. The latter with a new singer. "My Friend Lonely" again sees the addition of a new vocalist in Sonny DeLuca. The third vocalist in four years. "My Friend Lonely" would be the band´s last release before they disbanded later in 1994.

Stylistically the music on the album is melodic thrash metal with a lead vocalist who both delivers raw staccato type thrash metal vocals and a more melodic clean vocal type. Sonny DeLuca has a rather distinct sounding voice and delivery, and while he has a lot of power behind his delivery, his singing style may be a bit of an aquired taste. During the quiet/acoustic parts of the album, he does sound a bit nasal odd. To my ears his vocals work best when they are most rough like they are on tracks like "Hate Makes Hate" and "Killing Floor". The instrumental part of the album is delivered with conviction and great skill.

The material on the 8 track, 43:27 minutes long album are relatively well written, but nothing out of the ordinary for the style. "Building Errors in the Machine (1993)" was a definite step down from the high quality of "I Hate Therefore I Am (1991)" and unfortunately Cyclone Temple don´t recover any lost ground on "My Friend Lonely". It´s a decent melodic thrash metal album, but never extraordinary. The sound production is not the strongest either, and especially the drums feature a sound which lack the important organic element.

So upon conclusion it´s not hard to understand why Cyclone Temple didn´t achieve the success they aimed for. "I Hate Therefore I Am (1991)" came a little too late in the game to receive more than a passing interest from metal listeners (thrash metal was in decline in 1991), and as the band´s next two releases were both of a much weaker quality than the debut album, Cyclone Temple just weren´t able to built a fanbase to support them though the thrash metal difficult 90s. "My Friend Lonely" is not as such a bad quality release, it´s just pretty standard for the genre and a 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "Building Errors in the Machine" is an EP release by US, Chicago, Illinois based thrash metal act Cyclone Temple. The EP was released through Progressive International in 1993. It bridges the gap between the band´s debut- and second full-length studio albums "I Hate Therefore I Am (1991)" and "My Friend Lonely (1994)". Cyclone Temple was left without a label when Sony BMG purchased Combat Records's parent company Relativity Records, and shortly after decided to shut down Combat Records. Therefore Cyclone Temple was forced to a label change.

Cyclone Temple was formed in 1989 after Greg Fulton (Guitar), Scott Schafer (Bass), and John Slattery (Drums) split with Debbie Gunn (Sentinel Beast) and thereby ending their former band Znöwhite. They enlisted Brian Troch who performed vocals on "I Hate Therefore I Am (1991)", but on "Building Errors in the Machine", Troch has been replaced by Marco Salinas.

The EP features 6 tracks and a full playing time of 29:52 minutes. The closing track is a CD bonus track though, which was common to include on the CD version of releases in those days and omit from the vinyl and Cassette tape versions, to further the sale of the CD media. The music style is thrash metal, influenced by artists like Metallica, Testament, and Anthrax (the influences are heard at various points throughout the album). There´s an occasional alternative edge to the music too though, which isn´t surprising considering the year of release. The bonus track "The Law of Relativity" even features rap vocals. As such Cyclone Temple´s core sound is intact here though.

What makes the EP a slight disappointment compared to the pretty strong debut album is the sound production. It´s obvious the band lost label support and had to record the EP on a much lower budget than the case was when recording the debut album (which features a very well sounding production). The guitars and the drums sound pretty thin here, and it´s like the music never truly reaches the listener. The music is relatively well written, but not exceptionally catchy, and the musicianship is decent too. Salinas is a worthy replacement for Troch, and performs his parts with both passion and conviction.

Upon conclusion "Building Errors in the Machine" is a step down from "I Hate Therefore I Am (1991)" and it´s hard not to feel disappointed that such a promising debut isn´t followed up by another strong release. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "I Hate Therefore I Am" is the debut full-length studio album by US, Chicago based thrash metal act Cyclone Temple. The album was released through Combat Records in 1991. Cyclone Temple was formed in 1989 by the three remaining members of Znöwhite, after lead vocalist Debbie Gunn jumped ship to return to her former band Sentinel Beast. Znöwhite was already formed in the early 80s, and at one point featured both of guitarist Greg Fulton´s (aka Ian Tafoya) brothers in the lineup. Znöwhite released their debut and sole full-length studio album "Act of God" in 1988.

...and it´s obvious from the opening notes of "I Hate Therefore I Am", that these guys are very seasoned musicians and songwriters. Tight yet organic precision playing, very powerful thrashy riffing in various paces, strong melodic playing, a rhythm section that drives the music forward with great energy, and Brian Troch´s powerful and melodic tinged singing on top. He is not a typical raw staccato type thrash metal singer, but more a "real" singer, doing vocals on a thrash metal album. Not completely unlike John Bush on some of the harder edged Anthrax tracks from the 90s.

The material are generally very well written, instantly catchy, and fairly memorable in the long run to. Cyclone Temple succeeds in keeping the tracks, and the album as a whole, interesting throughout because of the variation within and between tracks. There´s rhytmic variation, melodic sections, clean/acoustic sections, very fast paced aggressive thrashy sections, guitar solos, and great vocal melodies, which combined make for an intriguing but also headbang inducing listen. Brian Troch´s voice and vocal style provide the album with a slight alternative edge (which wasn´t unusual on thrash metal releases in 1991), but this is first and foremost a well played, well produced, and well written thrash metal release in the more sophisticated end of the spectrum.

"I Hate Therefore I Am" is one of those albums, where it´s almost impossible not to be impressed in some way about the overall quality of the product. Of course the music itself is always an aquired taste, but if you objectively analyze all the pieces that make up this album, it´s arguably a high quality thrash metal release. Cyclone Temple was only partially successful with the album though, which was probably due to the thrash metal hostile environment in the US in 1991. Had this been released just 2 to 3 years earlier, there´s a good chance that Cyclone Temple could have been a major success. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

metalmillennium Arising from the ashes of Znowhite is Chicago's Cyclone Temple. Their sound can best be described as Thrash Metal, although it contains elements of Power Metal, and even Modern Rock. Vocalist Brian Troch has a lower singing voice than the standard thrash outfit, which makes Cyclone Temple stand out a tad more in the originality category. He ranges from lower spoken voices to higher octave singing notes. The rhythm guitars are also excellent, as you would expect from thrash.

During "Why," a nice, clean guitar passage gradually builds up into a thrasher. The rhythm guitar holds quite an impact on the song, and it leads to Brian's rougher than average vocals. A pretty decent chorus overall. "Sister" starts off slowly again, and then begins a thrashy groove. A lot of the vocals are semi-spoken, then get a bit higher as the chorus enters. Great vocals mark the song from around 4:35 until its ending. By the time of "Words Are Just Words," the songs are running together a bit, although the song contains many great chops, reminding one of mid 80s Metallica at places. "Public Enemy" is where the album began to get heavier and grabbed my attention. Good rhythms throughout. The title track, however, is the album's highlight. The vocals are beautiful, the accoustic guitars shine, and the song maintains the heaviness of the aforementioned songs on the album. Check out 5:15 or so into the song: Excellent vocals, again, that lead up to a killer solo. The rest of the album lacks the intensity of the beginning, except for the last song "Silence So Loud," which has a crunching intro that is sure to keep you listening. And from there on, the intensity is retained and one is relieved of the filler songs in between. Overall, not too bad of an effort. This album carries a much more saddened tone than the average thrash outfit. It's not exactly a groundbreaking album in any means, but a little more than I would expect from the blandness that thrash started to become once the 90s hit. Bruce's different from the norm thrash vocals are worth listening to, and the album has its high points of either thrashing out in style or failing to garner my attention. The first half is best, and it closes out nicely. I'll have to try their other releases out.