Twin Temple emerged in 2019 as one of the most exciting breakouts in recent years. Their self-styled ‘Satanic Doo-Wop’, a bewitching blend of 60s girl groups, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Amy Winehouse and surf pop, was hardly traditional Metal Hammer fare. Yet the LA-based wife and husband duo, Alexandra (vocals) and Zachary (guitar) James, possessed a diabolical and theatrical DNA that felt perfectly at home within our world.
The band’s sound was so fresh it almost bordered on gimmickry, although any such concerns are washed away on follow-up, God Is Dead. Now we’ve got over the sheer WTF-factor of Twin Temple’s sonic brew, we can enjoy it for what it is as they walk the line between modern and nostalgic. Wonderfully cinematic opener Burn Your Bible, which begins with the sound of church bells and rain, and Two Sinners lean heavily into the band’s more soulful inclinations, embracing the kind of warm and scratchy production reminiscent of The Shangri-Las. Elsewhere, Lets Have A Satanic Orgy, which sees Alexandra cackle, "What's the matter? You don't like the taste of blood?" is the kind of voodoo-tinged, macabre mischief that has transformed their live shows into lusty, bloodthirsty rituals.
Of course, the sonics are only half of what makes Twin Temple such an intoxicating, charming proposition. This time around the pair’s messages of blasphemy and sexual empowerment are even more overt. “I don’t spread the gospel,” Alexandra sings unapologetically on Be A Slut (Do What You Want). “But I'll sure as hell spread my legs.” This is devilishly good fun.
