Album Review: Green Lung - This Heathen Land
Reviewed by Patrick O'Reilly
Opening with an atmospheric synth backed spoken word intro Green Lung introduce us to the hidden side of England, this is the land that gave us Hammer Horror, terrifying public information films that scared children into staying away from rivers and lakes forever, Alistair Crowley, The Wicker Man and a whole host of crazy occult practices and themes.
This is the green and unpleasant land that Green Lung call their home and ply their trade, and their trade is a blistering, exciting blend of doom, prog and occult rock. Having built up a cult following with their previous releases and thrilling live performances they are ready to unleash a new album upon this dark land.
Once the eerie strains of the intro fade away its straight into the opening riff of ‘The Forest Church’ and it's an absolute belter!! Green Lung have always been able to write hook laden catchy doom and here they showcase it again perfectly. You will have this song in your head for days even after the first listen!
From the stellar opener things go from strength to strength with the band showcasing their talents with a variety of styles of songwriting.
‘Mountain Throne’ channels the spirit of NWOBHM and rips along at a rapid pace, Maxine brings to mind Cathedral at their catchiest such as ‘Hopkins: Witchfinder General’ whilst One for Sorrow slows things down and provides ample evidence that Green Lung can mix it with the traditional Doom bands. Soulful moody piece Song of the Stones is up next, an atmospheric number that is a bit of calm within the storm of the rest of the album, then it's back to good old heavy metal again for The Ancient Ways, a similar sounding track comes next in Hunters in the Sky before its time for epic album closer Oceans of Time, a huge sounding sprawling track about Count Dracula hunting his one true love across the centuries, a fitting grandiose end to a great album.
The true quality of Green Lung is in their musicianship, these are really accomplished musicians playing well written songs with energy and verve. With some incredible guitar and keyboard solos and the memorable vocals of Tom Templar along with a super tight and pounding rhythm section Green Lung are set up to carry the crown of British Doom as defined by Black Sabbath. They combine the occult and spooky elements of the British Isles with catchy riffs and hooks to come up with supremely listenable heavy metal, a folk horror atmosphere and real swagger. This may be a heathen land but its one with great music!
For fans of - Cathedral, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Reverend Bizarre, Candlemass
