Cypress Hill: III Temples of Boom 2LP 180g Vinyl

Why you'll love it

This 180g 2LP set comes in printed inner sleeves with a download code. The album went platinum, and DJ Muggs' darker, slower production marked a turn in the Cypress Hill sound.

This edition

2LP set
180g vinyl
Printed inner sleeves
Download card included
Lyrics included
Pressed in the EU

About the album

Temples of Boom came out on Halloween 1995, which suits it. After two records of rowdy party anthems, Cypress Hill went somewhere darker and stranger: slower tempos, eerie loops and a mood Q magazine summed up as a vaguely threatening ambient hardcore. It was also the first album with percussionist Eric Bobo as a full member, and his congas and timbales add a slow, smoky pulse under the whole record.

DJ Muggs produced nearly all of it, folding in sitar, creeping basslines and spooky piano. "Throw Your Set in the Air" is the swaggering lead single, "Illusions" spins a haunted string loop into one of B-Real's best performances, and "Boom Biddy Bye Bye" and "Killafornia" keep the menace coming. The RZA produced a track featuring himself and U-God of Wu-Tang Clan, a fine bit of East meets West.

Melody Maker called it a gobsmacking paradox of expansive claustrophobia, which is quite the compliment, and NME heard in it the paranoia of the moment with spookily apt timing. Rolling Stone noted Muggs' progress as a producer, and the record went platinum on the strength of it. Thirty-odd Halloweens later, the record has never really taken its costume off.

Also at Kops: more Cypress Hill on vinyl · browse Hip Hop / R&B