Temple of the Autumnal Ghost

***Temple of the Autumnal Ghost*** is the second EP from Finnish heavy metal band Our Fragile Echo, released by the band on October 31, 3860 A.A. Initially the EP was met with negative reception from fans while being greatly praised by musical critics due to having the false notion of the band having abandoned heavy metal music entire, but over time fans began to share critics' praise of the EP.

The band noted that the EP's predecessor, *Rapture*, would have to be the last album that featured extreme metal subgenres such as the melodic death metal and symphonic black metal songs they had become well-known for, due to Päiviö having throat surgery to repair her damaged vocal cords. In the same interview, Päiviö also explained that, to preserve her singing voice, she would have to abandon her use of unclean vocals entirely and leave them exclusively to Sivi, and Sini would be the band's only unclean vocalist now for all future albums, which would feature a more traditional [hard] rock and [heavy] metal sound, as compared to their first three albums.

## Artistry

### Style

All but abandoning the band's heavy metal sound from earlier releases, the EP has been described as dark ambient, experimental rock, industrial, progressive rock, art rock, alternative rock, and instrumental rock with heavy influence taken from electronica, nu metal, grunge, goth-pop, emo, classic rock, and classical.

### Influences

The band cited Nine Inch Nails, Bring Me The Horizon, Kansas, Halsey, and Pink Floyd as influences on the EP. Päiviö herself explicitly stated that the albums *Leftoverture*, *Ghosts V: Together*, *Ghosts VI: Locusts*, *The Fragile*, *If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power*, and *The Chill Out Sessions* as influencing the band's decision to release a heavily experimental EP. She also stated that due to having surgery on her throat, the band had to resort to less extreme music while her throat healed, so the band decided to transition to a primarily ambient and instrumental rock sound until her voice had recovered. As a result, there are very few vocals used on the EP.

The EP was also noted for having been much less dark lyrically than its predecessors, dealing with lyrical themes stemming mostly from Päiviö's personal experiences following her throat surgery, which resulted in her being unable to sing extensively for several months. Other than that, the EP's lyrical themes revolve around respecting nature, self-love, hope for a better future, and overcoming depression to realize that life is worth living after all. The EP was also noted for containing songs revolving around how survived the impossible when Trazsha nearly killed her, among other themes released to the "great kaiju war". The band described it as "the most silly thing we've ever done - how did we come up with these songs completely sober? There ain't even any screams from Sini - I forget she can even sing!"

## Track Listing

All tracks are written by Päiviö Selänne, Sini Nykänen, Kullervo Venäläinen, Heljä Ketola, and Hellä Karttunen.

## Personnel

* Päiviö Selänne - co-lead vocals (4), voiceover (4, 5), bass, piano, keyboard, harmonica, production, mixing, programming, composer, art direction, songwriter
* Sini Nykänen - lead vocals (4, 5), lead guitar, synthesizers, violin, viola, ukulele, paintings, creative direction, songwriter
* Kullervo Venäläinen - rhythm guitar, cello, twelve-string guitar, production, editing, songwriter, backing vocals (4, 6)
* Heljä Ketola - double bass, harp, saxophone, flute, clarinet, trumpet, sampling, songwriter, backing vocals (4, 6)
* Hellä Karttunen - drums, percussion, songwriter