National Music Reviews
Red Temple Spirits
Self-Titled
Independent Project Records
Street: 06.11
Red Temple Spirits = Pink Floyd + The Mars Volta
Red Temple Spirits have been around for a long time, but you wouldn’t know unless you were already a fan. This interesting amalgamation of post-rock, prog, and tribal-influenced psyche metal originally surfaced toward the end of the ‘80s and only gained enough notoriety to foster a cult fan base. The lead singer, William Faircloth—who resembles an Alice Cooper who is addicted to ayahuasca—belts out haunting wails that sound agnate to Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s handiwork. The prog-rock compositions are equally bizarre, but wholly impressive. This limited edition 3-CD set contains both of their original heyday albums, which have been combined and re-mastered, and only 1000 copies have been produced. If you’re the kind of dude who uses the words “ethereal” and “trippy” when describing music, then you’ll profit more than the rest of us by getting this. –Gregory Gerulat