Heavy Temple - Garden Of Heathens (Album Review)

Release Date: April 12th 2024. Record Label: Magnetic Eye Records. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl

Garden Of Heathens: Tracklisting

1.Extreme Indifference to Life 05:48

2.Hiraeth 03:58

3.Divine Indiscretion 07:09

4.House of Warship 05:29

5.Snake Oil (and Other Remedies) 08:49

6.In the Garden of Heathens 03:23

7.Jesus Wept 06:24

8.Psychomanteum 04:22

Band Members

High Priestess NightHawk - Bass/Vocals

Baron Lycan - Drums

Lord Paisley - Guitars

Review

I’m late to the party reviewing Psychedelic Doom/Stoner Metallers Heavy Temple fantastically heavy new album Garden Of Heathens which sees the band continue developing their Occult Rock obsessed sound that becomes quite seedy with heavy Blues Rock energy within the subtle Doomed Out tones of the whole album.

The album is unashamedly retro whilst having a certain modern theme within the heavier Stoner Rock passages that elevates the album to the deeper levels of Fuzzed Out Doom and Hard Rock. HIgh Priestess NightHawk once again is in full control with sublime vocals that have the right amount of Classic Rock dominance and Psych Doom swagger that can be quite ethereal and mysterious at the same time.

Garden Of Heathens is filled with organic based grooves that have a slight Organic vibe which allows Heavy Temple to demonstrate a keen ear for deep levels of Trippy and Sonic delivery being played within the more outlandish and down-right HEAVY ROCK aspects of the album especially on tracks such as Extreme Indifference To Life, Divine Indiscretion, House Of Worship, Snake Oil (And Other Remedies) and Jesus Wept. The songs are all full of classic sounding lyrics that are perhaps inspired by the 70’s Proto Doom and 80’s Heavy Metal scene but there’s a soulful movement on how High Priestess Nighthawk delivers the creative story of the whole track and album.

With the added bonus of Psychedelic Rock freak-outs and Space Rock guitars which transform into extended passages of Distorted Sludge Rock grooves with high amounts of Amplifier Feedback and Fuzz Pedals being played to maximum volume. Heavy Temple are a more vital Doomed Out presence when they play with a more obsessive style of OCCULT ROCK or GOTHIC ROCK on the later stages of the record. 

You can see why Heavy Temple have reached great heights within the scene already thanks to their widely celebrated debut album released back in 2021. Garden Of Heathens is the type of album that has the power to elevate Heavy Temple onto bigger and better things within the Doom/Stoner Metal scene.

Garden Of Heathens is a statement of intent from Heavy Temple for everyone to take notice and witness the “true arrival” of a wonderfully gifted and highly original band that will become major players within the scene over the next few years.

Words by Steve Howe

Buy Garden Of Heathens from the links below:

Worldwide: en.spkr.media
US/Canada: us.spkr.media

Links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram | Twitter

HEAVY TEMPLE & HOWLING GIANT announce co-headlining EUROPEAN tour

US-bands HEAVY TEMPLE from Philadelphia, PA and Nashville, Tennessee's HOWLING GIANT will both make their first journey overseas for a co-headlining European tour in advance of their upcoming new albums. The tour will include appearances at several key festivals. It kicks off in Switzerland at the Up in Smoke Festival in Pratteln and runs through until October 22 in the city of Antwerp at Desertfest Belgium.

Please see below for all confirmed HEAVY TEMPLE and HOWLING GIANT tour dates.

HOWLING GIANT comment: "We are fired up about this European quest with our shield companions in Heavy Temple," drummer Zach Wheeler writes. "We're ready to sling riffs and cross swords with the best of the best beyond the great pond."

HEAVY TEMPLE add: "We hope that Europe is as ready for us as we are for them!", bassist and vocalist High Priestess Nighthawk declares. "Can't think of another heavy-hitting power trio that we'd like to shred across the pond with than Howling Giant."

HEAVY TEMPLE & HOWLING GIANT Euorpean tour

29 SEP 2023 Pratteln (CH) Z7, Up in Smoke Festival
30 SEP 2023 Leeuwarden (NL) Neushoorn, Into the Void Festival
02 OCT 2023 Siegen (DE) Vortex
03 OCT 2023 Hamburg (DE) Hafenklang
04 OCT 2023 Jena (DE) Rosenkeller
05 OCT 2023 Kassel (DE) Goldgrube
07 OCT 2023 München (DE) Backstage, Keep It Low Festival 2023
09 OCT 2023 Budapest (HU) Robot
10 OCT 2023 Wien (AT) Arena
11 OCT 2023 Bologna (IT) Freak Out
12 OCT 2023 Milano (IT) Barrios
13 OCT 2023 Roma (IT) RCCB
14 OCT 2023 Viareggio (IT) Circolo ARCI GoB
15 OCT 2023 Carmagnola (IT) Circolo ARCI Margot
18 OCT 2023 San Sebastian (ES) Dabadaba
19 OCT 2023 Barcelona (ES) Razz3
22 OCT 2023 Antwerp (BE) Trix, Desertfest Belgium

Photo by Mollie Crowe

HOWLING GIANT

Despite Nashville’s reputation for assembly-line pop country, the town called Music City is a place of deep history, where brilliant songwriters and virtuoso session players keep dozens of musical legacies burning bright. Nashville’s preeminent fuzz-psych power trio HOWLING GIANT live in the pocket of that lineage. HOWLING GIANT formed nearly ten years ago. From day one, the trio locked into a musical groove of thunderous metal, proggy acrobatics, psychedelic flourishes and soaring melodic vocals, telling stories of fantasy and adventure with such sheer force of will that they seemed capable of opening a window to other dimensions. As an enticing taste of things to come, HOWLING GIANT release the digital single 'Sunken City' from the upcoming album before hitting the road.

Links

www.facebook.com/howlinggiant
www.instagram.com/howlinggiant

Photo by Gene Smirnov

HEAVY TEMPLE crashed forth like a roaring mastodon in a thunderstorm with their first official full-length, "Lupi Amoris," an album with all the markings of a landmark record. As progressive as BARONESS but unselfconscious, as heavy as FU MANCHU but more adventurous, this Philadelphia trio throw every lever in the riff-metal machine, yet also wield lyrical concepts that register on literary levels. "Lupi Amoris" offers a one-way trip through wide-open spaces and deep forests. HEAVY TEMPLE came into being on the 2012 winter solstice in pursuit of the pure fun and joy of playing heavy music, at first performing locally in Philly, then gaining an excellent live reputation which led to tours alongside RUBY THE HATCHET, MOTHERSHIP, ROYAL THUNDER, CORROSION OF CONFORMITY and THE OBSESSED. 

Invitations to notable festivals included The Maryland Doom Fest, Psycho Las Vegas, and Decibel Metal & Beer, among many others. Although HEAVY TEMPLE leverage all the trappings of traditionally male-oriented metal (to the point that their sound could proudly sport a full beard), the powerful presence of frontwoman and founding member High Priestess Nighthawk merges their glorious heaviness with a strong thematic line of feminine strength. "Lupi Amoris" is Latin for "Wolves of Love," and finds the Philly outfit aligning with a Red Riding Hood who is freed from the traditional bonds of what's expected. Proving that it's quite possible to hammer out gargantuan stoner doom and still say something about life's realities, HEAVY TEMPLE make a fierce and much-needed statement with "Lupi Amoris", and at these volumes, the world is guaranteed to hear it.

Links

www.facebook.com/heavytemple
www.instagram.com/heavytemple

Heavy Temple - Lupi Amoris (Album Review)

Release Date: June 18th 2021. Record Label: Magnetic Eye Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Lupi Amoris - Tracklisting:

1. A Desert Through The Trees

2. The Wolf

3. The Maiden

4. Isabella (With Unrelenting Fangs)

5. Howling Of A Prothalamion

Band Members:

High Priestess Nighthawk - vocals. bass guitar

Lord Paisley - guitar

Baron Lycan - drums

Review

Philadelphia, PA, is home to the brilliant trio Heavy Temple whom, after some EPs, singles and a split, finally unleash their debut full-length, 'Lupi Amoris'. And what can I say? Based on the band's previous output this is the logical and excellent conclusion, there's no other way about it. Having guided Heavy Temple from its inception in 2012, High Priestess Nighthawk, who’s amazing voice, songwriting and eloquent bass playing is a big part of the band’s identity, has an extremely powerful trio at hand with Lord Paisley on guitar and Baron Lycan on drums. The breath-taking blend of psychedelic doom, blues, heaviness and esoteric lyrical vantage point they unleash ‘Lupi Amoris’ is absolutely stunning, crushingly stunning in fact. 

I might give it all away from the start but Heavy Temple’s first full-length is simply fantastic, don’t know if I can find any better adjectives than that, but that’s how it is, folks! This band gives me the good vibes from the get-go and as unrestrained and free-flowing as this band is, there are no boundaries to what they do. Hence, I get completely lost in the music as soon as it starts and, when everything is over the feeling of contentment and being re-charged is so abundant.

Based on the story of the Red Riding Hood from a female point of view ‘Lupi Amoris’ starts off with ‘A Desert Through The Trees’. It’s full of riffs, it’s bluesy and esoteric in nature. Loud and powerful, this song is a brute force yet beautiful and vivid and finishes off crushingly heavy. ‘The Wolf’ picks it up and becomes spaced-out and trippy after about two minutes. Not particularly fast it is still bone-crushingly heavy as Heavy Temple unleash a wonderful take on modern-day blues. It leads straight into ‘The Maiden’ which gradually builds up to fever-pitch and then some. Drops a little in the latter half during the fuzzed-out trippy solo only to explode in the end. Brilliant solo, by the way. Isabella (With Unrelenting Fangs) starts off with a wonderfully slow thick and heavy bassline akin to Jethro Tull’s ‘Broadsword And The Beast’. The band keeps it slow, lurking and kind of sinister with a sense of foreboding gloom. This excellent album ends with the only instrumental piece, ‘Howling Of A Prothalamion’ and what a way to close everything out. While Nighthawk and Lycan are pounding the listener to dust, Paisley throws off the shackles and shreds his guitar to a bloody pulp…all while the band collectively emits a state of transcendence, euphoria and catharsis. Absolutely wonderful!

In conclusion, whatever music your band plays, approach it like Heavy Temple. Because their music, is honest; it’s healing and rejuvenating and it’s bloody fantastic. Don’t miss out on ‘Lupi Amoris’ you hear!

Words by Håkan Nyman

Thanks to Magnetic Eye Records for the promo.

You can buy Lupi Amoris now on CD/DD/Vinyl from Magnetic Eye Records

Links

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HEAVY TEMPLE Sign To Magnetic Eye Records

HEAVY TEMPLE have penned a deal with Magnetic Eye Records, becoming the label's first signing of 2021 (but not its last). This well-oiled riff machine will proudly present a heavy psychedelic expedition that seamlessly weaves from boogie van grooves to the gravitas of Candlemass in the shape of their debut album via Magnetic Eye Records this year.

HEAVY TEMPLE comment: "We're beyond thrilled to be joining the Magnetic Eye family, along with so many talented friends and musicians", writes singer and bass player High Priestess Nighthawk. "We can hardly wait to put out our first full album with Magnetic Eye, and we think it's our best music yet. Looking forward to sharing something with everyone this year!"

Jadd Shickler bids the Pennsylvanians welcome: "Some bands come knocking, others you might run across or decide to look into", comments the Magnetic Eye Records label director. "Heavy Temple are a band whose sound and reputation simply demanded our attention. We are excited to welcome these purveyors of doom and groove to the label, and the only thing we're more anxious to see than the release of their first official full-length is their heroic return to the road. Welcome, Heavy Temple!"

HEAVY TEMPLE formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA in 2012 and quickly released a pair of critically-acclaimed EPs that presented a mature blend of fuzzy grooves, doom, and heavy psychedelia with occult motifs as well as a tongue-in-cheek sense of humour.

The band quickly made waves throughout the heavy rock underground during their first several years of activity, galvanizing their brain-melting attack over the course of numerous tours with the likes of CORROSION OF CONFORMITY, RUBY THE HATCHET, MOTHERSHIP, and ROYAL THUNDER among many others. Before HEAVY TEMPLE even released an album, the band had already performed at prestigious festivals including Psycho Las Vegas, Black Flags Over Brooklyn, DesertFest New York, The Obelisk All-Dayer, Maryland Doom Fest, and Decibel Metal and Beer.

Fusing their strongest line-up into place just ahead of the coronavirus pandemic, HEAVY TEMPLE took advantage of the forced layoff from touring to craft their cosmic heaviness into a first official full-length, which is due in 2021 via Magnetic Eye Records.

Links

Facebook | Bandcamp