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ALBUM REVIEW: Woodland Rites – Green Lung

Doom metal is arguably the oldest and one of the most important sub genres in the entire metal landscape. At this point in time doom is in a wonderfully healthy state and one band who look set to make sure this continues to be the case is GREEN LUNG, from South London. Since their inception they have set about creating nostalgic slabs of psychedelic doom metal which was perfectly displayed on their debut extended play Free The Witch, which got them the attention of Berlin-based record label Kozmik Artifactz and it is now, with the labels backing, that GREEN LUNG are ready to unveil their first full length album Woodland Rites.

Unlike a lot of bands who use their brief introduction tracks to simply take up space on the album with atmospherics, GREEN LUNG set about laying the foundation for the rest of the release with the inclusion of impressive, folk-inspired acoustic guitar work from Scott Black playing beautifully over the top of the organs by John Wright. The distortion then kicks in and Andrew Cave’s low end rumbling bass threatens to shake the very innards of the audience, playing wonderfully off of the full drum sound from Matt Wiseman. This nails the band’s plan to the wall very early on and shows exactly what they are capable of before the album even properly starts, even culminating in an excellent, screaming guitar solo.

The first full song on the album is Woodland Rites‘ title track, which begins with a massive BLACK SABBATH-worshipping guitar riff that is as memorable as it is crushing. When the vocals of Tom Templar come in they soar tremendously over the top of the dense, fuzzing instrumentals to provide the perfect contrast. GREEN LUNG have a brilliant way of creating large hooks and melodies for people to connect with both from the vocals of Templar and the haunting leads from Black. This is no more apparent than in the bridge of the song with the lead guitar harmonies sounding almost like something Brian May would have written in QUEEN’s hey day before leading in to another wonderfully well written guitar solo to play out the song.

Another highlight of the album comes from The Ritual Tree which begins with a sinister sounding tune from Wright on the organs, coupled with gang vocals that sound as though they come from a group of druids in the middle of a forest sermon. Once again the riffs are bouncy and full of groove when they kick in with the bass mirroring the guitar wonderfully in the same way that Geezer Butler would mimic Tony Iommi on the classic BLACK SABBATH records. Once again the vocal performance from Templar is sublime, his high pitched vocals add not only melody to proceedings but also another layer to the eeriness that engulfs the song. Another brilliant interlude grinds the track to a halt and shows once again the variety in the song writing that GREEN LUNG are capable of with the clean, echoing guitars and organ giving way to another show stealing guitar solo from Black. The guitar and vocals intertwine during the latter stages of the song to ensure that it goes out with a bang.

GREEN LUNG save one of the best tracks on Woodland Rites for the back end of the album in form of May Queen, which shows the band strip things right back and deliver somewhat of a ballad. Once again the organs from Wright and beautiful clean guitar parts from Black lay the foundation for Templar to deliver his emotive vocals over. The song is chock full of impressive bluesy guitar solos, wandering bass lines and memorable vocal hooks which sound incredibly professional, yet so natural that they could have simply been rolling the recording tape on a relaxed band practice session. When the song shifts gears at around the half way point we are once again treated to an onslaught of BLACK SABBATH-esque riffs that will no doubt kick up quite a storm when the band play them live which is a testament to the durability and intelligence of the song writing from the band.

The fact that Woodland Rites is the debut from GREEN LUNG is simply incredible as the level of maturity and depth in the song writing far exceeds the band’s years. With the band writing songs of this level on their debut album, it is truly exciting to see what they come up with for their next release.

Rating: 9/10

Woodland Rites is set for release March 22nd via Kozmik Artifactz. 

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