The band formed in 1993 when a couple of friends got together and started rehearsing in a room of a machinery factory, owned by one of the member's father. Influenced mainly by Portuguese Rock and Heavy Metal from abroad, each member had some very distinct musical preferences of it's own and mixed it initially into some kind of Heavy/Thrash Metal with hints of other close genres. As some media would eventually describe it, "their music have the spirit of rock, the attitude of punk and the character of Heavy Metal".
With José Carlos and João Afonso playing guitar, Hugo Oliveira on the bass, Rui Alex in the drums and João Pereira singing, the band full throttled practicing and composing their songs.
Still in 93 they record their first 4 songs demo tape with a team of emerging Portuguese rock producers. And a year after they went to Oporto to record a second tape with well know Metal producers (and members of one of the most recognized metal bands in the country - Tarântula). This tape caught the attention of the recently formed "Skyfall", a music label interested in the rise of a new generation of Portuguese Metal bands influenced by the growing wave of international heavy music, and the band ended up signing for their first album.
In August, 1996, they entered the studio and recorded "The Angel, The Demon and The Machine". Fred "Stone" (from Blasted Mechanism) played percussion at "War Dance". The record sold near 3000 copies and launched the band in a series of concerts across the national underground scene, sometimes opening for bands like Entombed and Machine Head, the last with a singular episode where Rob Flynn made them a toast during the Machine Head set in a sold out "Hard Club" at Oporto, after the bands played together the day before in Lisbon. |
In 1999 The Temple recorded an EP called "999" distributed almost exclusively in a clandestine way through the underground by the band fans.
In the year 2000 the band establishes a relationship with Daniel Makosch and his label "Raging Planet", resulting in the recording of a new EP called "DEMOnio" - a limited and numbered edition of 1000 units.
The band then started to work on a new album and in 2003 they head to London to record "Diesel Dog Sound". For more than a month they worked intensely with Dave Chang in his studio aiming to produce a raw and genuine set of songs. They only got out a few days to come to Portugal and record Zé Pedro and Fernando Ribeiro, their friends that would make the guest appearances on the album. Still during the recordings they were invited to sign with the British label "Copro Records" for an international release of the record, after the label owner listened to Millionaire being mixed and got "blowned away" as he put it.
Diesel Dog Sound was released in 2004 in Portugal, Australia, Austria, Holland, Bulgari, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, and many other countries. The record got impressive reviews from major Rock and Metal European press and Kerrang! gave it 4Ks, characterizing it as "one of the most intense and intelligent albums of the year".
The album brought the band to a new level and they get to play some emblematic shows and major festivals in Portugal, like "Super Bock Super Rock", "Vilar de Mouros", "Ilha do Ermal", etc, as well as continuing to play in the underground circuit they cherish. Playing concerts with bands like Machine Head, Life of Agony, Moonspell and Kreator, got the band enthusiasm, motivation and strengh, as they kept on making their path, but things were also getting more complex, demanding and hard. |
In the subsequent years, João Afonso and José Carlos left the band and Tiago Menaia and Marcelo Costa got in, to play those guitars.
In 6/6/2006 the band make the opening party for their new studio and rehearsal room and in the time that follows a lot of work is done, composing, recording, pre-producing and playing a bunch of new songs.
A new era begins and the new core develops and thightens.
One of those songs is a cover from Mão Morta, a Portuguese underground iconic band, that was recorded to be part of a tribute record. Then, a video was made and "Budapeste" got widespread and unexpectedly went to the top 5 at Mtv Portugal Hit list.
The next years are spent playing live, dealing with some turbulence and developing new songs.
Pedro Pina starts singing in the band, as João Pereira leaves for a hiatus and a pre-production for a new album starts.
During this time the band met Tue Madsen through their friends Moonspell.
In 2011 they go to Denmark to start recording a new album with him.
The work keeps going, between Portugal and Denmark, and finally, at the end of 2015, the new album is released and "Serpentiger" is born.
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