Review
Soul She Said
As Templar Nites

Dim Mak (2006) Neil

Soul She Said – As Templar Nites cover artwork
Soul She Said – As Templar Nites — Dim Mak, 2006

Putting their best foot forward from the off, Soul She Said's debut record opens with what is easily its strongest track, "Sunken City." Strongly influenced by My Bloody Valentine, early Primal Scream and probably a whole host of hallucinogens, it's the prefect balance to the Icarus Line's dark back alley, class A take on The Stooges.

Soul She Said is in fact effectively the jam band side project of Joe Cardamone and Don Devore of the more famous Icarus Line. Recorded in the height of summer '05 in Australia and New Zealand, As Templar Nites, is fairly well removed from what the two men are more commonly known for. This is almost a dance record. "Floor on the Floor" is build around some The Rapture style throwback guitars but is unfortunately peppered with a few too many asinine dance commands that only James Brown and perhaps Dance Dance Revolution can get away with. "Riverboat" is a more drawn back, psychedelic offering before "Tastefaker", "Cause, I Can't Find a Place in Hell" and "Rub the Sleep Out" aim to get hips gyrating once again. The album ends with the more sedate stoner jam, "Oct 21", which reinforces the summer feel of the record. Or I'm just reading into it too much. In all it only lasts twenty-five minutes, by which time the effects are starting to wear off. But given that As Templar Nites is a fairly fun trip it's one worth revisiting again when the sun is out.

Oh, and if anyone has ever believed that drugs have a negative effect on people, well, you may be right. See the press release for some shit filled nonsense…

Souls as Templar Nites... Traversing the boundless limits of space and time, these unwilling but unrelenting mercenaries, whose real names and identities have been changed to protect the guilty (powers that be), exist only to the outside world as an innocuously mild-mannered side project, but in reality have greatly impacted the catalysts for change towards this, "the essential fate and truest destiny," or what will eventually come to be known as the final evolutionary link for all mankind. But before we sell you on some Florida swamplands, let's explore what the increasingly reticent members of Souls She Said would describe as "the boring ending".

What? None-the-less, take that scag needle out of your vain and drop some acid. Summer starts here.

6.6 / 10Neil • July 21, 2006

Soul She Said – As Templar Nites cover artwork
Soul She Said – As Templar Nites — Dim Mak, 2006

Recently-posted album reviews

Sexfaces

Bad Vibes OST
Slovenly (2025)

Best thing about writing reviews is finding out about new stuff that I otherwise might not have heard. Also writing reviews for bands that aren’t friends of mine is pretty cool but when I hear a band I really like, like Sex Faces, it makes me want to be friends with them, I can't help it! I’m not even halfway … Read more

Unseemlier

I Have A Screw Loose, Somewhere
Sell The Heart Records (2025)

What does Unseemlier sound like? I've been mulling that question as I listen to I Have A Screw Loose, Somewhere for a while now. As I listen to more and more Sell The Heart releases, The band is from Boston, but seemingly influenced by late '80s DC. It's heavy, but more with hardcore-like vocals shouted over moving, building guitars and … Read more

Personality Cult

Dilated
Dirtnap (2025)

I had a hard time starting this review. I can’t help coming back to the fact that it sounds like Marked Men. It does, maybe intentionally so, as Dilated is the second of Personality Cult’s albums that is produced by Jeff Burke of Marked Men and Radioactivity. But I don’t necessarily like to say a band sounds like another band … Read more