Heavy Temple - Garden of Heathens (2024)

★★★★

HEAVY TEMPLE are one of those bands that never really cease to amaze me. They’re psychedelic, heavy as hell, musically talented, and still fairly approachable to non-fans of this style of acid rock-inspired doom metal. Furthermore, they’ve continually proven to be masters of melody, being able to pair these massive riffs with soaring vocals and not lose out on any of the heaviness of their sound. On this release specifically, they even up the ante into thrash territory at times (listen to “Psychomanteum”), with some blistering guitar work, ferocious drumming, and some downright thunderous bass playing. Compared to some of the other modern doom bands, HEAVY TEMPLE stands out through their unique style and captivating long-form songwriting, never losing steam because unlike other doom bands, they don’t have to rely on repetition to drive their songs! I’m really impressed by this release being able to harness so much good music within 45 minutes, and that – if nothing else – should be a testament to why you should check these guys out!

FAVORITE TRACKS: “Hiraeth,” “House of Warship,” “Jesus Wept,” “Psychomanteum”

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Originally published in April '24 (Issue No. 3)