Bow Down at the Temple of Tempel

Here’s what our own Dave Mustein had to say about On the Steps of the Temple, the 2014 debut album from Arizona instrumental metal duo Tempel:

… [they] are the proverbial needle in the instrumetal haystack, a band whose debut is meticulous, mature, and above all, fresh, putting a heavy and distinctive spin on well-established themes.

Like a chump I didn’t heed Mustein’s advice and never got to checking out On the Steps because… well, I’m a chump. But as the saying goes, time is the healer of all chumps (or something like that), and now I’ve got a second chance with The Moon Lit Our Path, out June 16 via Prosthetic Records.

Noisey released a stream for “Descending Into the Labyrinth” last week, and now I understand what Mustein was raving about: sure, there are TONS of instrumental bands in the metal space right now, but none of them sound anything like Tempel. No djentisms here, not even close. No NeurIsis post-metal atmospherics punctuated by build-ups and slow-downs either. Tempel are an entirely different beast, using black metal harmonics as the backbone for their sonic template, spiced with elements of sludge and doom; there are plenty of atmospherics, sure, but they sound like something off Side B of Meddle, not Times of Grace. You haven’t heard an instrumental metal band like this before, but it’s a good thing Tempel are here… the scene needed a band like this, and it needed one badly.

Pre-order The Moon Lit Our Path here and jam the new track below.