HEAVY TEMPLE are back from extensively touring across the United States and for the first time also Europe. They are also back from the rehearsal room where the making of new songs became far more of a group effort than on the debut album. And finally back from Animal Farm studio where John Forrestal gave the new album "Garden of Heathens" a rich and warm organic sound that is also crisp and crystalline.
Where the debut full-length "Lupi Amoris" charged forward like a roaring mastodon, "Garden of Heathens" comes across more diverse and sophisticated without losing punch or heaviness. And while the powerful vocals of frontwoman High Priestess Nighthawk provide a strong gravitational pull, HEAVY TEMPLE always remain a riff-first kind of band.
Even so, the heavy-touring Philadelphia, PA trio have expanded their range to encompass an even wider breadth of rock and metal road stops, from BARONESS to THE BEATLES and BLACK SABBATH to FU MANCHU - with many crossroads in between.
Lyrically, Nighthawk wrote her most personal lines so far as the album revolves thematically around things that aren't real - from the American Dream to relationships. No matter how shiny something looks, below the surface lurk anxiety, betrayal, and doubt.
HEAVY TEMPLE are not just back, they are here to stay. "Garden of Heathens" gives strong testimony that the trio is pushing hard to broaden their spectrum and break through any preconceptions and obstacles in front of them. "Garden of Heathens" sheds new light and a wider perspective on heavy and desert rock, psychedelia, and doom metal.
