Within any music industry, year in and year out there are endless lists of “rising stars”, “ones to watch”, or “the sound of (insert year here)”. The vast majority of these acts will be the darlings of journalists more pretentious than even I could hope to be on my most pompous of days, and equally, the vast majority of these acts will be one hit, or even no hit wonder flash in the pans that vanish like a politician’s promises the day after being elected. Metal is a genre of music that is equally guilty of such frequently erroneous promotions, but for once I’m going to stick my neck out and say that Green Lung is the real deal, and with new release ‘Black Harvest’ are poised to grow in stature.
‘The Harrowing’ starts the album as a summons to call in the listener, a simple vocal refrain building into a pummelling of bass, drums, Keith Emerson inspired Hammond organ and guitar work that pays more than a little nod to the six string gymnastics of Brian May, a wall of sound that gives way to ‘Old Gods’, a riff fest to support lyrics of one of Green Lung’s regular themes, namely folk magic and mysticism. For those who love their Sabbath, whether they are worshippers of Iommi or the Sun, ‘Leaders of the Blind’ follows, and as well as showcasing their musical abilities, not one note being out of place, the song highlights one of the band’s not so secret weapons, namely their song writing. Before this review copy arrived, I’d already heard ‘Leaders of the Blind’ twice before, both times live, to crowds as far apart as the thousands rammed into the SOPHIE stage at Bloodstock to the one hundred and thirty squeezed into Edinburgh’s Opium, and both times each audience was immediately grabbed and chanting along to the chorus as if it were a stadium standard with years of provenance as opposed to the first live outing of a yet to be released track. As somebody who is rapidly approaching four decades of going to gigs, let me assure you that is no mean feat, and one that can only be applauded.
‘Reaper’s Scythe’ continues the assault on the listener’s neck muscles with beats that will either build your trapezius to titanic proportions or destroy it, the track galloping relentlessly along for its entire length. Fortunately, there is some respite to come, ‘Graveyard Sun’ opening with a mellow acoustic refrain, the pastoral idyll of the verses interspersed with stadium filling rock bombast. Monastic chants like the opening of a lost Vincent Price film start the all too short instrumental title track ‘Black Harvest’, before the band distil an entire decade of Hammer horror movies into the proto-metal stomp of ‘Upon The Altar’. Every song on the album is thoroughly deserving of attention, whether it be the occult rocker ‘You Bear The Mark’, the appropriately Pentagram inspired ‘Doomsayer’, or the closer ‘Born to a Dying World’, a track that starts like an early psychedelic Pink Floyd number before building from gentle reflection to a summit of prog before petering out like a passing storm. The skill and complexity of the composition is frankly startling for such a young in years band, and all the more astonishing for the fact that I know first-hand that they can recreate that same sound on stage as a five piece.
Whilst not a new departure, rather part of a steady development in their style, ‘Black Harvest’ is a release that should see Green Lung reach a far greater audience. With massive musical hooks, instantly chantable choruses, clean vocals that won’t scare away those who dislike extreme metal, but lyrical themes that will appeal to those grimm ones who profess to travel the left hand path, the band refuse to be pigeon holed into a single subgenre, and even have the ability to reach into the (almost) mainstream. Hell, do a little bit of clicking and you’ll find features on them beyond the underground sites such as you are reading now, and into the pages of that most staid of institutions The Guardian. Add in their ability to recreate their music live yet with added energy, and Green Lung could truly be “the ones to watch”.
(9/10 Spenny)
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