In May of this year, Temple of Gorgon, a new LA-based one-man black metal assault, released a killer three-song demo. We were in correspondence at the time with Geist, the magister templi behind the Temple of Gorgon. But before we knew it, the three songs from the Worshipers of the Serpent demo saw a sanguine reprisal, along with five new bangers under the banner Throats of Lie.
At turns relentlessly crushing like a torrent of stampeding minotaur or galloping with evil power, and adorned in dark melodies like menacing weaponry and armor of obsidian, Throats of Lie is a black metal album ingeniously built for doling out wicked destruction. Cutting through modern trends, leaving expectations cast aside like so many bodies in its wake, Throats of Lie obliterates 38 minutes into a single blast of martial and melodic brutal black metal.
Throats of Lie
Without wasting another minute, we caught up with Geist, officially, to discuss Temple of Gorgon.
“I wanted to create a black metal project that had all the aspects that I enjoyed from black metal such as dark atmosphere, brutality and melody,” reflects Geist, who’s had a number of other bands along the way. Almost all of them black metal. “I have one other active project called Blood Temptation that is more of a hybrid black metal project with a lot of death and thrash metal incorporated into it,” Geist confirms.
Geist says he chose the moniker for this new project because “Temple of Gorgon represents what black metal is to me[:] a combination of darkness, the occult, mythology and anti-Christianity. My goal was to convey these elements in the lyrics, artwork and music.”
When it came to laying down the material, Geist explains, “From my home studio, I recorded everything directly into my computer using a digital audio workstation. I sent all the songs to a professional to be mixed and mastered. I feel that I am decent at getting things recorded well but I lack the skills of mix and mastering at a top level.”
Geist continues: “The Worshipers of the Serpent demo was kind of an introduction for Temple of Gorgon. All the songs from the demo are remixed and mastered and included on the full-length Throats of Lie. They sound much better now. All the songs on the full-length were mixed and mastered at Room 9 Studios here in California.”
Regarding his approach to writing and creating his unique kind of black metal, Geist says, “When I am writing Temple of Gorgon songs, I do not want the songs to sound like every other black metal band out there. I have been a metal head since I was a kid and tend to have a lot of that old school thrash/death metal influences in my songs. I always wish to create something unique to give Temple of Gorgon its own sound. I tend to avoid music that is the current popular style or trend. I write the songs for myself to enjoy and if other people like it that’s even better.”
Geist provides his outlook on being in a band vs. going it alone, saying, “I have been in full line up bands in the past and I found it very hard for everyone to be on the same page and be professional. Things like this slow down the band’s progress and get in the way of the quality of the music. I have spent a lot of time in the past trying to find quality black metal musicians that would have the time and dedication to play with no success. I would rather use that time and energy of searching for other members into the actual writing and recording of the music and get things moving with the project alone.”
Regarding the physical release, Geist relates that “Throats of Lie has just been released by Plague Demon Records and Blasphemous Creations of Hell Records. Two great underground labels that are doing a great job in helping Temple of Gorgon get noticed by fans of this type of music.
“You can expect to see a lot of promotion, reviews, interviews and merch soon. The full length is now on Spotify and other streaming services. The demo is going to be released on cassette soon as well.”
In closing, Geist says, “I want to thank the labels Plague Demon Records and Blasphemous Creations of Hell Records for releasing the full length. Please check out these labels the bands are diverse and very talented. I also want to thank Frost Bite for the killer artwork and thank you to you and Decibel for featuring Temple of Gorgon.”