Heavy Temple | |
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Heavy Temple's Logo | |
Background information | |
Origin | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA |
Genres | Psychedelic Rock, Doom Metal |
Years active | 2012 - Present |
Labels | Ván Records, Riff Merchant Records, Magnetic Eye Records |
Website | Heavy Temple Official |
Heavy Temple are a psychedelic doom trio hailing from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Active since 2012, this band has mixed fuzz, psych and doom with general themes on the occult, though the band does derive some inspiration from the Dark Tower series of books. All of the members adopt pseudonyms and the band has a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor. Since their formation the band has released two EPs and has toured all over the United States with a host of different bands.
History[]
Heavy Temple began on 21 December 2012, founded by High Priestess Nighthawk, Rattlesnake and Bearadactyl. Adopting a dark occult motif early on, the band's first show saw them performing at Eye of the Stoned Goat.[1] Through 2013 the band would only play a handful of shows in the Philadelphia area but by 2014 would branch out to performances in Delaware with the likes of Queen Elephantine and Wizard Eye among others. The band would release a self-titled EP on 15 May 2014. The band also briefly functioned as a two-piece before reverting back to a trio later that year. 2015 would see a new drummer in Siren Tempest and sporadic performances alongside the likes of Kadavar, Backwoods Payback and Toke among appearances at Vultures of Volume Fest, Midnight Sun Music Festival and Shadow Woods.
2016 would see the band starting off the year by releasing a cover of "Love You To Death" by Type O Negative. From March onwards the band began performing more shows throughout the United States with the likes of Book of Wyrms,[2] Sunrot,[3] Toke, Mondo Drag and Valiant Thorr among others. In regards to festivals, Heavy Temple made appearances at Winter's Ruin Metal Fest,[4] The Obelisk All-Dayer, the inaugural Doomed & Stoned Festival and Doom Over November[5] just to name a few. On 19 November 2016, Heavy Temple would release their second EP Chassit to praise among the stoner circles. This featured Siren Tempest on drums and Archbishop Barghest on guitar.
2017 would see the latest addition to the temple in Thunderhorse on guitar, announced to be part of the band on 4 March 2017.[6] The band would perform a host of supporting gigs for touring acts in the Philadelphia area among touring with Pilgrim but branch out to other festivals such as The Maryland Doom Fest, Psycho Las Vegas and a return to Shadow Woods. 2018 saw a mini-tour with Backwoods Payback and Royal Thunder to start the year, a spring tour with Ruby The Hatchet and a fall tour with Mothership and Corrosion of Conformity among appearances at Shadow Woods Music Festival, RPM Fest, Descendants of Crom and Muddy Roots Music Festival (2018). 2019 will see the band embarking on more tours, including a string of shows with Ruby The Hatchet and an appearance at the Decibel Beer & Metal Festival.
On 8 February 2019 it would be announced that the lineup would be set to change once again.[7] Heavy Temple would perform a string of shows surrounding SXSW along with appearances at Decibel Metal and Beer Fest, Grim Reefer Festival, and Desertfest New York, followed by a return to Muddy Roots Music Festival. In 2020 Heavy Temple would participate in a split 7" with Wolfblood, covering the iconic Funkadelic song "Hit It and Quit It".
On 27 January 2021 Heavy Temple would announce that they would sign with Magnetic Eye Records for their debut studio album, set for a Summer 2021 release. Further details would be revealed that April, with Lupi Amoris to be released on 18 June 2021, with "The Maiden" as the album's first single.[8]
Discography[]
Studio Albums[]
- Garden of Heathens (2024, Magnetic Eye Records)
- Lupi Amoris (2021, Magnetic Eye Records)
Other Releases[]
- Heavy Temple (EP) (2014, Van Records)
- Love You To Death (Single) (2016, Self-Released)
- Chassit (EP) (2016, Tridroid Records)
- Key & Bone (Revisited) (Single) (2018, Self-Released)
- Split From The Black Hole (Split 7" with Wolfblood) (2020, Riff Merchant Records)
Members[]
Current Lineup[]
- High Priestess NightHawk - Bass, Vocals (2012 - Present)
Past Members[]
- Rattlesnake - Guitars (2012 - 2014)
- Bearadactyl - Drums (2012 - 2014)
- Saint Columbidae - Drums (2014 - 2015)
- Archbishop Barghest - Guitars (2015-2017)
- Siren Tempest - Drums (2015-2019)
- Thunderhorse - Guitars (2017-2019)
- Lord Paisley - Guitars (2019 - 2023)
- Baron Lycan (Will Mellor) - Drums (2019 - 2024)
List of Known Tours[]
- March 2017 Tour (With Pilgrim) (2017)
- January 2018 Mini-Tour (With Backwoods Payback, Royal Thunder) (2018)
- Spring 2018 Tour (Select dates with Ruby The Hatchet) (2018)[9]
- July 2018 Shows (2018)[10]
- August 2018 Tour (Select dates with Mothership, Corrosion of Conformity) (2018)[11]
- The Road To Muddy Roots (2018)[12]
- The Road To SXSW Tour (2019)
- May 2019 North American Tour (With Ecstatic Vision) (2019)[13]
External Links[]
- Bandcamp
- Metal Injection article on Heavy Temple
- Riff Relevant Interview with Heavy Temple
- Official Webpage