ALBUM REVIEW: Green Lung, "This Heathen Land"

 By: Richard Maw
 
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 03/11/2023

Label: Nuclear Blast

 
“This Heathen Land” CD//DD//LP track listing:
 
1. Prologue
2. The Forest Church
3. Mountain Throne
4. Maxine
5. One for Sorrow
6. Song of the Stones
7. The Ancient Ways
8. Hunters in the Sky
9. Oceans of Time
 
The Review:
 
Green Lung are the best ‘new’ band in the UK today. This is their third album and takes in folklore, esoteric and occult albion (Britain) and so on. “Woodland Rites” was rough and ready with the artwork, the vibe and the songs in place. “Black Harvest” was nothing short of a modern classic; beefed up production, better arrangements and songs with vibe and artwork intact.
 
“This Heathen Land” is more developed and varied than the previous albums. It has the muscle of Nuclear Blast behind it- once again, the artwork is stellar (kind of a Wild Hunt pastiche), the production is superb and the songs, well….
 
A spoken word prologue sets the scene for a journey into a hidden, pagan, Britain. The first track proper, “The Forest Church”, should have you invested. If it doesn’t, please give the rest of the record a chance. The track takes in epic soloing, doom like pacing and some dynamic tempo shifts- plus a more prominent role for the keys. Having as they do the line-up of classic Deep Purple or Jethro Tull, it makes sense to make use of the keys to a larger extent.
 
The grooving tempo of “Mountain Throne” makes for an excellent and headbanging track, while advance track “Maxine (Witch Queen)” is just brilliant. Catchy, clever and full of hooks and ideas. Essentially, this is for fans of folk horror, films like The Wicker Man, Straw Dogs, Witchfinder General, A Field In England, The Devil Rides Out etc. It’s got that hard-to-define aspect that makes it somehow otherworldly- much like compatriots Pagan Altar.
 
The doom vibes are back for “One For Sorrow”- it’s slow and creepy, with a dose of melancholia woven into the grim portents. Reference points abound in terms of the band’s sound. This is not doom, per se, but the spectre of Sabbath looms. However, classic 70’s rock like Heep, Jethro Tull and Purple is also present- as is, in particular, Queen. Backing vocals, varied instrumentation, varied styles, well orchestrated guitar parts and hooky vocals. Yep, Brian et. al. would approve.
 
The band has expanded their sound- not just by the use of keyboards, either. “Song of the Stones” mixes folkloric ghost story telling with acoustic instrumentation and is much further from Sabbath and much closer to Tull at their ’77 peak or even Led Zeppelin at their most arcane. It’s fantastic and transportive. Crucially, this is also music played by younger people; these aren’t a load of middle aged old hands trying their luck at occult rock. It feels organic and authentic.
 
The UK, even the world, needs younger rock bands who are not yet into their 40s to keep the genre alive and thriving. Sabbath are done. Priest and Maiden are in various stages of their twilight, other large bands are now just embarrassing corporations or the core of the bands are dead and buried. Elsewhere on the album, Green Lung delve into the distant past and fictional horror with strong success. The band keep the vibe on point with a forty two minute playing time. It’s all here; Ley Lines, barrows, stone circles, paganism, sorrow, despair and hope.
 
Modern day Britain is becoming increasingly out of touch with its past (the good and interesting parts of it in particular) in favour of a culture of individualism, consumerism and distrust. Bands like Green Lung and albums like “This Heathen Land” place the listener firmly in a different time and a better place. While some of the material here may be a little more stately (“Ancient Ways”) and grand, there are also the headbanging thrills of “Hunters In The Sky”, so the album comes off as balanced and considered in its track list.
 
The record closes with a take on the vampire myth- “Oceans of Time”- referencing memorable dialogue from the early 90s film with Gary Oldman in the lead role. Again, it’s clever and effective and hugely enjoyable, with some Type O style production and arrangements. Green Lung haven’t put a foot wrong with this record and it may well be the one that puts them over the top from underground prospects to legitimate headliners. They deserve it, as having witnessed the band live at Desertfest I can confirm that they have that indefinable extra factor; charisma, mystery, x-factor- call it what you will. In short, this band is unique and this album is excellent. Treasure them both.
 
“This Heathen Land” is available HERE

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Green Lung, "Black Harvest"

 By: Richard Maw
 
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 22/10/2021
Label: Svart Records
 

“Black Harvest” CD//DD//LP track listing:

 
1. The Harrowing
2. Old Gods
3. Leaders of the Blind
4. Reaper's Scythe
5. Graveyard Sun
6. Black Harvest
7. Upon the Altar
8. You Bear the Mark
9. Doomsayer
10. Born to a Dying World
 
The Review:
 
What do have here?! Well, it appears that we have a band to pin our hopes on. Green Lung have been super active with two albums in as many years. They bring doom, folk, 70s rock and paganism together in a rather heady brew. If the debut “Woodland Rites” was the prototype, this is the finished article. It does everything that the 2019 release did, but more powerfully and with greater clarity.
 
I've been slow off the mark to review this one; I should have been quicker as the band have created a real buzz. They are THE new band on the block and one listen to this LP will let you know why. Lots of references to the old religion, the stones, Woden and fire- and that is just the first two tracks.  “The Harrowing” sets the tone- mystical and magical, ethereal... “Old Gods” is a grooving beast. Equal parts Sabbath and Uriah Heep; mighty riffs, mighty organ work.
 
This record is most definitely for fans of: Jethro Tull, Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple and onwards into the modern era of Rise Above Records roster (Orange Goblin, Witchcraft, Electric Wizard) and the other current great English rock band, Wytch Hazel.
 
This album is nothing less than a rejuvenation of the underground heavy rock scene. It's sorely needed, as the halcyon years of 2004 to 2010 when Witchcraft and Orange Goblin were riding high at packed out gigs in London are now a long time ago. After that opening one-two punch combination, it's very much what you'd expect; weighty heavy rock with all the right influences in place.
 
Green Lung are gaining some serious traction with all the cool festival slots booked and the crowds waiting for them- even if they had to cancel their appearance at Damnation Festival recently. It's clear that they are going somewhere with their esoteric atmospheres and swirling organ work coupled with varied tempos and a noteworthy weighty production.
 
There are ten tracks here, but the atmosphere is intact throughout and the overall vibe will certainly invoke Stone Henge (in a good way) stone circles (in a general way) and the folklore of the British Isles when the listener plays the album. I note that the band have taken inspiration from the same book that Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull utilised for the seminal “Songs From The Wood” album and it shows here with much drama about graveyard suns, altars, bearing marks and so forth.
 
It's hard to pick stand out tracks as this is all so uniformly good. The lead work throughout is excellent and each of the songs manages to be part of a cohesive whole while maintaining its own identity. 
 
If you wanted a flavour of the band, you could just play “Reaper's Scythe” or “Graveyard Sun”, but really you could pick any track and get a decent idea. Yep, this London band are going places- climb on board now before it's too late and you arrive only in time for the destination. I can't really recommend this record highly enough. Join them. Join me. Welcome to the coven.
 
“Black Harvest” is available HERE

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

REVIEW: Green Lung - "Free the Witch" [EP]

By: David Jupp

Album Type: EP

Date Released: 19/02/2018

Label: Deckhead Records

In a genre packed with bands that draw on decades-old tone and aesthetic, it takes a mature hand to re-appropriate bygone creativity without sounding forced. Luckily there is a confidence and craft present in Green Lung’s writing that belies their months.  If Green Lung can expand the template that has served them so well across these four superb songs then a truly exciting future awaits.

“Free the Witch” CS//DD track listing:

1). Lady Lucifer

2). Free the Witch

3). Living Fossil

4). Older than the Hills

The Review:

It’s been two hundred and fifty days or so since Green Lung announced themselves on the UK heavy-stage with their blistering demo ‘Green Man Rising.’ In the months that have passed since that promising release, the London quartet have refined their craft across a host of England’s underground stages. Now armed with a growing following and half-an-hour of new material, the question is can Green Lung transfer the heft and excitement of their live show to tape?

‘Free the Witch’ sparks with lead single ‘Lady Lucifer’ and a crescendo of crisp guitar hammer-on. As the tension builds and we reach the twenty-seventh second, Green Lung proceed to drop the hammer on what is sure to be one of 2018’s stand-out riffs. The groove on display here bangs with such an endearing audacity that you can only hope the record to follow will measure up. As guitarist Scott Masson whittles down the dirt, singer Tom Templar makes his entrance. Washed in reverb and folk-horror croon Templar transmutes the bands 70’s aesthetic, from cover to sound. ‘You smiled with lips incarnadine, whispered black magic, rites obscene.’ As the song climbs to its apex Masson cracks the reigns with an outrageous solo and “Free the Witch”’s opener sets a ridiculous standard.

Title track ‘Free the Witch’ is up next and is a much more direct affair. The lurch and swerve of ‘Evil Empire’ that crackled in the opener is now replaced with a full pelt nod to debut-era The Sword. Just as the record becomes in danger of reverting to type the arrangement peels back and Masson injects another well-judged solo. ‘Free the Witch’ lurches home on a bed of cultish chant and half-time stagger.

In making the jump to Bear Bites Studios (Vodun, Ghold) and employing Wayne Adams on production Green Lung have shed the compressed savagery of their live demo and allowed their stellar rhythm-section room to breathe. Track three ‘Living Fossil’ demonstrates this upgrade perfectly and the song is all Andrew Cave’s. The arrangement follows a similar pattern but before any unwanted familiarity encroaches, Cave’s bass swaggers in for an overdriven solo. The months spent on various stages refining these cuts is evident and Templar hauls the song home, ‘Living fossil, a blast from the past.’

Green Lung’s debut closes in sprawling fashion with ‘Older than the Hills.’ Not content to banish their live demo to audio-history there is a clever re-integration of the vocal hook from ‘Freak on a Peak’ but this time the extended track-length really allows the band to flex their muscles. Across its eight minutes each musician takes a moment in the spotlight, and as Masson’s guitar wails in the storm Cave and Wiseman’s rhythm section rumble home on an array of deft fills and charming girth.

In a genre packed with bands that draw on decades-old tone and aesthetic, it takes a mature hand to re-appropriate bygone creativity without sounding forced. Luckily there is a confidence and craft present in Green Lung’s writing that belies their months. This confidence is only emphasised by the fact that b-side ‘When the Axe Comes Down’ is left off their debut. When you are in a vein of writing so rich you can cast away such strong songs it can only be a good omen. And that is what ‘Free the Witch’ is, an impressive and rousing omen, of greater things to come. If Green Lung can expand the template that has served them so well across these four superb songs then a truly exciting future awaits.

“Free the Witch” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook