It seems that against all odds, I’ve beat the “Go a month without reviewing a single Frontiers release – Difficulty: Impossible” challenge. Well, I guess that’s technically false, considering Megadeth’s chart-topping swansong was released via the label’s new metal imprint, BLKIIBLK, but when it comes to the world’s premiere melodic rock dealers proper, it isn’t until more than halfway through February that we find ourselves tackling a release. And what better way to pop our Frontiers cherry for 2026 with the new eponymous album from one of the most Frontiers-sounding band on their roster, Temple Balls? It’s been a couple years and change since we last heard from them, so we were due for some fresh, uh, balls.
Now for a band who have made a name for themselves as part of the happy-go-lucky, melodic Scandi-core crop alongside peers H.E.A.T, Eclipse, Crazy Lixx, and so forth, things haven’t been all sunshine and lollipops in the world of Temple Balls as of late. In fact, far from it. Last October, the melodic rock community was shocked to learn about the passing of guitarist Niko Vuorela after a private three year battle with cancer. He was only 31. Subsequently, Temple Balls features Vuorela’s final recorded performances, as well as the strongest collection of songs the band have assembled to date, their blatantly ’80s arena metal sound reaching new heights of power and memorability.
Detractors of this scene and sound might dismiss Temple Balls for being formulaic, but in this instance, the formula works so well that the band sticks to it because why wouldn’t they? The lion’s share of these songs boast arena-shaking rhythms, gang vocals galore, hairspray-drenched riffage, and the type of retro swagger that made albums like Hysteria and Slippery When Wet diamond-selling smashes. On cuts like “Flashback Dynamite”, “Lethal Force”, “Tokyo Love”, and “Stronger than Fire”, it’s as if the band got drunk off the earworm serum that has fueled Eclipse’s Erik Mårtensson for the past quarter century, their respective hooks latching onto the listener and never letting go.
Compared to 2021’s Pyromide and even 2023’s Avalanche, Temple Balls seldom crosses the threshold into “true metal” territory, but when it does, even these songs smoke, never sounding out of place amongst the glammier, radio-oriented fare. Uptempo headbangers like “Hellbound” and “Chasing the Madness” scratch that old school euro melodic metal itch, channeling forefathers Pretty Maids, as well as Priest and Accept, with their leather-studded riff attack. The grim-sounding “Living in a Nightmare” brings the album to a colossal close, evenly balancing both hard and heavy elements for maximum impact on the listener’s mind and eardrums.
A wise man once said that music is the medicine of the soul. Perhaps no band knows this better than Temple Balls. Even in the face of tragedy, Temple Balls manage to let out a defiant smile, simultaneously lifting both their hearts and the hearts of their fans with yet another tremendous outing of pop metal fun. I’m confident that even the coldest and kvltest of Scandinavian black metallers won’t be able to help but crack a grin at a song like “Flashback Dynamite”, and I sure hope that’s the case come this summer’s euro open air fests.
8 out of 10
Label: Frontiers Records
Genre: Hard Rock
For fans of: H.E.A.T, Crazy Lixx, Eclipse
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