Green Lung are a cult band in every sense of the word. Formed in London in 2017, their first two records 2019’s “Woodland Rites” and 2021’s “Black Harvest” brought a folk horror sensibility to occult rock, attracting a fanatical following in their native UK and beyond, and resulting in international tours with the likes of Clutch, festival performances from Roadburn to Bloodstock to Download, and a record deal with the world’s biggest independent heavy metal label Nuclear Blast Records.
“We couldn’t be more excited to share “This Heathen Land” with the world,” said vocalist Tom Templar. “This album is the culmination of five years of work as a band; an odyssey into the weird and wonderful world of British folklore that melds together our myriad influences – classic rock, doom, NWOBHM, horror film soundtracks, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop – and fashions something out of them that is utterly our own.
Well, okay. First thing that attracts the fan to this album is the uncanny combination of Rock and Metal and their respective techniques. “This Heathen Land” sometimes sounds as the combination of Uriah Heep with Judas Priest, just as examples of the techniques the band uses here. From Uriah Heep comes the keyboards which sometimes can be dark and other times have that 1980’s sound. From Judas Priest comes the guitar tones with a dash of Black Sabbath to the rhythm guitars. The more precise explanation would be Judas Priest to the leads and Black Sabbath to the rhythm guitars. This combination creates some magical and outstanding moments as in “Song of the Stones” whose ethereal mood takes the fan to somewhere else. It’s interesting how the guitars and the keyboard have a talk in most of the songs most notably in “The Ancient Ways.” From where I’m standing it’s this combination that makes “This Heathen Land” a very unique album. This track also showcases the combination of 1980’s guitar techniques with the mood of the 1970’s which is another thing that really outstands from the album.
“This Heathen Land” is an album that surprises with its unique way of combining such influences. Green Lung simply put them together in a hot and steaming cauldron, stir them very slowly to then serve us with a music that could come from the past to hide in the present leaving its contribution to the future.
Green Lung “This Heathen Land” was released on November 03rd via Nuclear Blast Records.
Track Listing:
- Prologue
- The Forest Church
- Mountain Throne
- Maxine (Witch Queen)
- One for Sorrow
- Song of the Stones
- The Ancient Ways
- Hunters in the Sky
- Oceans of Time
Watch “One for Sorrow” official music video here:
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