If you ask me who is the most interesting in the music today is, I’d answer Twin Temple. Ever heard of them? It’s okay if you haven’t. Although they have a huge cult following and are creating music so original that it is bending multiple genres in ways never done before, Twin Temple will probably never be played on commercial radio or have a hit on the Billboard charts. But, by merging period rock n’ roll with the Satanic themes which have traditionally been reserved for heavy metal and, it’s more specific sub-genre, “occult rock,” Twin Temple is pushing the envelope of creativity and originality at a time when our actual reality seems to resemble a modern hellscape. Twin Temple may come off as a throwback which plays tribute to the sounds and styles of another era, but their ideology, as unorthodox as it may seem, is uncomfortably set in now.
For those who may not have encountered Twin Temple yet allow me to introduce you to Alexandra and Zachery James. Hailing from Los Angeles, the Jameses may seem like your typical nice goth couple living down the street, but behind Alexandra’s bouffant hairdo and Zachary’s sharp vintage suits are two of the most prolific Satanists in America today. Via their two releases, 2018’s “Twin Temple (Bring You Their Signature Sound…Satanic Doo Wop)” and it’s 2023 follow up, “God is Dead,” the Jameses have become the Carole King and Gerry Goffin of the shock rock genre by weaving their interest in the occult and modern Satanism with a more classic rock n’ roll sound creating a completely new genre of music they’ve affectionally called “Satanic doo-wop.” Although a clever term, personally I feel that its slightly misleading, as their sound is less doo-wop, which I associate with the mid to late 1950’s, but instead celebrates the music that defended America against the British Invasion from around 1962 to 1966. We’re talking about the Brill Building, the girl groups, the Wall of Sound, Shindig, and the Wrecking Crew. The Shangri-Las, Lesley Gore, The Ronettes, Roy Orbison and maybe a touch of Burt Bacharach. Stir in some black magik, add a pint of blood and shake it up all night long in an indulgent Satanic orgy and you have some of the most provocative and outrageous original music currently being pressed to vinyl.
What Twin Temple is doing is taking the occult rock genre, which originated in Chicago around 1969 with the band Coven, and continued throughout the 1970’s heavy metal and prog rock scene via artists like Black Widow, Black Sabbath and Uriah Heap, but place it back to a slightly earlier period and incorporate a more traditional rock n’ roll sound to it. As quoted in the liner notes of their debut album, “Who says that Satan wouldn’t get down to some traditional Americana.”
Now pop music and the occult had crossed over prior to 1969 in recordings such as Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ classic anthem “I Put a Spell on You,” Eartha Kitt’s banger “I Want to Be a Witch,” and, to a lesser extent, Frank Sinatra’s classic love song “Witchcraft.” But if preachers and parents thought that Elvis’ gyrating hips and The Beatles’ long hair were a gateway into damnation, the Jameses are writing songs that’d have given 1960’s middle America’s conservative populace an aneurysm. With Alexandra working as the primary lyricist for the pair, Zachary is a classic rock aficionado who painstakingly crafts that classic 60’s sound in all of its glory. Bonded together in unholy matrimony as Twin Temple, the Jameses are creating revisionist music history by presenting what it might have sounded like if the occult and rock n’ roll had merged at an earlier period. In Twin Temple’s music you aren’t going to hear the heavy organs, blood curdling screams or ominous chanting that became a hallmark of occult or shock rock. Instead, you’re going to get some twangy guitar, a strong brass section and some soulful vocal arrangements. If you close your eyes and take a good listen, their material sounds like it came from a dusty discarded relic that was forgotten in the back of Phil Spector’s vault. As Zachery recreates an authentic classic sound, Alexandra seems to create her own magik by having the departed spirit of Amy Winehouse come forth in her vocal delivery. But, instead of the tropes of the early 1960’s, Twin Temple doesn’t sing songs about heartbreak, cars, beaches and boys. Twin Temple sings songs about hedonism, sexual liberation and love songs to the devil.
Emerging out of the LA punk scene around 2016, the Jameses initially felt that their blending of classic rock and occult themes would appeal to likeminded vinyl hipsters who love the same sorts of music that they did. However, due to their dark and subversive subject matter, the band seemed to scare off their intended audience and, instead, they became embraced by the hard rock and metal communities that are far less shocked by the group’s lyrical content. The result has created an unexpected genre bending relationship between Twin Temple and their fanbase. In early 2018, the Jameses took their ten most popular tracks, including “The Devil Made Me Do It,” “Lucifer My Love,” “Lets Hang Together” and “I Know How to Hex You,” and recorded their first album In only a day and a half. Doing three live takes of each song and then picking the best track for the album, Twin Temple also had a “secret track” which presented Alexandra conducting a Satanic mass. Similar in spirit to the cornball mass on the B sider of Coven’s “Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls” (written and produced by the album’s producer, Bill Traut and not by Coven themselves) the ritual is a lot shorter and more authentic and contains a feminist empowerment subtext.
Now at first glance, Twin Temple might seem like some sort of a novelty act, or even a comedy group, in the spirit of Jazz Sabbath or Dread Zeppelin. The outlandish premise of the group’s music, combined with Alexandra’s quippy lyrics, makes it seem that the Jameses tongues are firmly set in their cheeks, and to be fair, they probably are, There is little doubt that the song’s on Twin Temple’s first album are hilarious. Alexandra James is very funny, and there is little doubt that she is laughing along with the audience. However, where the Jameses differ from a novelty act is there is a degree of deep earnestness in the songs they put out. The ritualistic hedonism the Jameses are singing about isn’t just a colorful gimmick. After the show is over and the Jameses go home, their Satanic ideology isn’t packed away until the next show. They present a philosophy and a way of life that they actually live, and while mirthful and seemingly outrageous in song, the subtext behind their music is a statement of what they really believe.
And just what do Twin Temple believe? There is a lot of interviews on-line with the Jameses, and they have been very open with the public that they do identify themselves as being modern Satanists. But they also are very vocal that their definition of Satanism is not the same as what conventional society deems it to be. Modern Satanism isn’t what horror films, such as “Rosemary’s Baby” or “The Omen” present it as. It is not animal sacrifice, devil worship nor blood drinking or the hysterical myths believed in 1980 during the “Satanic Panic.” In the case of LaVeyan Satanism, which was developed by Anton Levey in the 1960’s, the figure of Satan is not worshiped as an actual deity as much as it is a symbol of self-empowerment and a complete rejection against traditional institutions. Instead of battling against desires that conventional society deem to be “sin,” Satanists allow themselves to self-indulge in the full range of human emotions, both deemed pure and sinful, without guilt nor hesitation in a way to engage with their purest human nature before it was corrupted by societies’ ideals or rules. This allows individuals that embrace Satanism to explore individualism, egoism and non-conformity through ritualistic practice.
In a lot of text I’ve read about modern Satanism, the days of Anton Lavey are often disregarded, having been diluted by voyeuristic thrill keepers looking for excuses to do drugs and have sex. But the cross over between LaVeyan Satanism what the Jameses present as their own beliefs are extremely similar. In a lot of interviews The Jameses seem to be on the defensive, talking about the misconceptions of Satanism and diffusing the myths, and not being given enough of a platform to clearly outline what their personal values are. However, the basis of their beliefs is presented very clearly within the liner notes of their debut album. Written by author Gabriela Herstik for the May 2018 issue of Nylon Magazine, it states:
“Both (Twin Temples’) music and their practice of Satanism, on and off the stage, are rooted in the ideals of free will and giving space to those who are not allowed any…(Twin Temple) are challenging notions about what it means to free the oppressed, fight back against dated and binary ways of thinking, and doing it all while hailing the dark lord.
Twin Temple’s core beliefs are further excplained in a clever pamphlet, resembling a Johvah’s Witness track, tucked inside the original pressing of their debut album titled “Have You Accepted Satan as Your Personal Lord and Savior?” Inside is printed the “Five Tenents of Twin Temple”:
- Do thou what you wilt so long as it does not impede the will of others.
- Satan is not a God, but a symbol. An exhaltation of the highest ideal of humanity.
- Satan rejects oppression, hypocrisy, intolerence, injustice and fear.
- Satan invites magik, creativity, inquiry, subversion of the status quo and freedom of expression.
- Satan is responsible for some of the greatest music in history.
Well, I’m not going to be joining the church of Satan anytime soon, but I can get behind a lot of those statements. These core ideals become the core themes throughout the material in Twin Temple’s music, as exemplified beautifully in “Lucifer, My Love:”
“Oh Satan
Deliver me from society’s hypocrisy
I’d kill to spend eternity
With you
So, tell me your preference
Blue denim or a red dress?
Or should I risk arrest?
I’m not ashamed of my nakedness.”
In July 2018, Twin Temple released their debut album with a small pressing of only 666 copies. This pressing, which contains a photo of the Jameses dressed in black, with Alexandra holding a human skull and the pair standing in front of a human “offering” on an alter, is extremely rare and fetches hundreds of dollars if you can find a copy. However, as their notoriety grew, a second much larger pressing of the album was released in March 2019 via Rise Above Records. A new cover to the album, featuring the figure of a naked woman wearing a goat’s head with blood smeared upon her naked breasts and torso, created immediate controversy and the album found itself often pulled off of record shelves and censored by the media. A few pressings of the album saw alternative covers that only featured the group’s name on a black backdrop, but the goat headed woman eventually returned to the cover and have remained their ever since.
Shortly after the mass release of their debut album, Twin Temple went on their first international tour as a supporting act for the band Ghost, which not only brought them to the attention of a much larger world audience, but also extended their notoriety. Establishing an elaborate stage show complete with a ritualistic ceremony, the originality of their music mixed with their sense of fun and style endeared them to audiences. But, like the occult rock acts that came before them, no matter how well produced their music was, the blunt lyrics and lyrical content prevented them from getting radio airplay or from entering the mainstream.
Derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, like a lot of bands Twin Temple seemed to go quiet for a while but remerged in 2022 to go on tour again, this time with Ghost and Danish metal band Volebeat, and eventually hooked up with Glen Danzig as the supporting act for his prolific 35th anniversary tour in 2023. But, somewhere along the way, Twin Temple attracted the attention of far right MAGA talk radio host Alex Jones, who went off about the group, calling them “the embodiment of pure evil” and made an outrageous claim that the Joneses visit abortion clinics along their tour route looking for sacrifices to use in their ritualistic stage act. The negative attention they received from Jones only amplified their reputation and visibility in the cultural landscape but also had a major effect on the trajectory of their career. As a result of Jones’ tirade against them, the Jameses became the source of constant harassment from Christian right extremists. From having their concerts picked, to receiving numerous death threats, the Jameses also became the victims of a bizarre campaign which saw stacks of Bibles being left on their front doorstep on a weekly basis. In one interview, Alexandra stated that the number of Bibles became so numerous at one point that they were unable to open their front door. Obviously, the opposition and harassment by Christian extremists only increased Twin Temple’s notoriety, giving them even greater visibility and attracting new interest to their act from curious music fans, thus increasing their fanbase. There honestly isn’t any better marketing tool than being bullied by extremists. But even more significant was that the harassment became the basis for the content of their sophomore album, “God is Dead.” As explained by Alexandra in multiple interviews, if you thought they were evil in their first album, Twin Temple was going to double down on their second.
With more time and money to put into the creation of their second album, “God Is Dead” is even stronger than the first with Zachery recreating the full Wall of Sound experience, and Alexandra coming on like Ronnie Spector so cleanly that you would swear she is being possessed. While the material on their debut album still has the same playful appeal to it as the first did, when you really look within the subtext, “God is Dead” has a lot more bite to it. Having been directly provoked by the Christian Right, Twin Temple was making it very clear that neither by force nor faith was there going to be any saving of their souls. Right in the opening lyrics of the first track, aptly titled “Burn Your Bible,” Alexandra lays down their message to the Christian extremists that harassed them across America:
“I don’t want to turn to the light
Don’t pray for me
Don’t waste your time
No, no preacher man
Missionary ain’t my style.”
As the album continues, Alexandra’s metaphors become even more outrageous, and what was once just a statement of their own beliefs now becomes a full out defiance of Christianity, which builds to the album’s title track, “God is Dead,” which becomes the dramatic conclusion of the album. Leaving the best for last, in this song, Alexandra writes the most sacrilegious and nihilistic anthem she has ever done before as the ultimate “middle finger” to Twin Temple’s advisories:
“I made up my mind, I went into the church last time
And I told the preacher just what I’d been dreaming of
The stars shone above on the altar where we made love
And as he was cumming, this is what I said
God is dead
God is dead
God is dead
God’s dead
The night was so tender, but I had one more dream
I tore up all the bibles, then poured gasoline
I took a book of matches and set the cross on fire
And then as I was leaving, this is what I said
God is dead…
One day, I went back to where that chapel used to be
There’s just the sound of birds singing in the trees
And I think to myself I’m such a lucky girl
To have burned up the last church in the world
God is dead…“
Yikes. Now I’m going to be raw with you. “God is Dead” chills me to my bones, especially when Alexandra gets to the repeated chorus at the conclusion of the song. You can hear her joy and her excitement and an actual glee as she exclaims “I’m so happy God’s dead.” Although I don’t shock easily, in all honesty, “God is Dead” completely goes against my own spiritual beliefs and is much too destructive and nihlistic for even my sensibilities, making it an extremely uneasy listen for me. But even more uneasy than the way the song makes me feel is the fact that I also think “God is Dead” is possibly Twin Temple’s definitive opus. Everything from the reconstruction of the classic sound to the perfection of Alexandra’s vocals makes it just so damn good! I can’t help but be absolutely spellbound by this track which, for better or for worse, manages to seduce me anyways. Often art is at its most powerful when it makes the public feel uncomfortable. Oh, Twin Temple, you evil temptress you….
But beyond their unique sound and genre bending material, I applaud Twin Temple for their boldness, for daring to embrace taboos and for their fearlessness in the face of opposition. The roots of rock are full of rebels that are supposed to be defiant and bold. The music is supposed to be dangerous and to defy cultural and societal norms. In an industry where society has become more desensitized, while still making “cancel culture” a reality that has the ability to erase creative legacies, artists are trying to make waves while staying completely safe. But by embracing every taboo, and doing it with so much zeal and style, Twin Temple are shaking things up like few musicians can.
In our current time, where we seem to be in a sort of dystopian hellscape anyways, and definitions of morality and decency have been dramatically blurred and diluted due to the normalization of lies, tyranny and injustice, could it be possible that Twin Temple are a new type of rebellious rock n’ roll anti-heroes that our society needs? Sure, they may worship Satan, but they also promote liberation, inclusion and self-empowerment. They promote freedom of expression and freedom from repression. It seems to me that that’s a lot more attractive than what the traditionalist “good guys” seem to want for society these days. I am not a Satanist, and my personal philosophy and spiritual beliefs lean a lot more towards embracing light instead of darkness, but in exploring the Jameses Satanic beliefs I see a lot of overlap with their core values and my own than that of the Conservative Christen extremists or the MAGA supporting public that litter the political and social landscape today. I feel that the Jameses and I look at a lot of things very similarly, and I would gladly break bread with them at my table and would love to engage in friendly conversation and have a few laughs. Honestly. Alexandra and Zachery – consider this an open invitation. If you are ever in our area, come for dinner! I’m a good cook, and I bet we could get a Devil’s food cake.
