Posted in Whathaveyou on November 7th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Green Lung spent some time in continental Europe last month ahead of releasing their third full-length and Nuclear Blast label debut, This Heathen Land (review here). They’ve got shows across England and into Scotland coming up in a few weeks, and with the list of dates below, they’re starting to reveal a bit about their Spring plans as well.
They’ve left a good amount of time here for Spring fests if they’re going to be around Europe at that point, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they showed up on more metal-focused lineups as well, the album having significant crossover potential. But obviously this is all a ways off — not the UK shows this month, but the rest — and there’s time for these shows to take shape and for plenty of others to be sorted. Green Lung are going pro, and might be about to embark on a touring cycle broader than any they’ve done before — I’m holding out that this is the record that brings them to the US — so yes. More to come.
Till then, this from social media:
Now that you’ve heard the new songs, it’s time for us to get out there and play them for you! We’re excited to announce that we’ll be back in Europe in March, April and May next year – we’ll be playing our first club shows in Greece, conquering Germany, Denmark, Austria and Switzerland with the mighty Spirit Adrift, and finally making it to Ireland with the mesmerising Lowen. Tickets will be on sale 9am this Wednesday morning (#128121#) (#128652#)
22.03 Thessaloniki GR 23.03 Athens GR 30.03 Köln DE 01.04 Copenhagen DK 02.04 Hannover DE 03.04 Leipzig DE 04.04 Munich DE 05.04 Vienna AT 06.04 Zurich CH 07.04 Aschaffenburg DE 30.04 Colchester UK 15.05 Liverpool UK 16.05 Belfast UK 17.05 Limerick IE 18.05 Dublin IE 19.05 Leeds UK
GREEN LUNG on tour:
https://greenlung.co.uk/#LIVE 22 Nov. Glasgow, UK Cathouse 23 Nov. Manchester, UK Gorilla 24 Nov. Nottingham, UK Rescue Rooms 25 Nov. Sheffield, UK Corporation Sheffield 26 Nov. Bristol, UK Thekla 30 Nov. Wolverhampton, UK KK’s Steel Mill 1 Dec. Norwich, UK Norwich Arts Centre 2 Dec. Southampton, UK The Joiners 10 Dec. London, UK Scala
Green Lung is: Tom Templar – Vocals Scott Black – Guitar Joseph Ghast – Bass John Wright – Organ Matt Wiseman – Drums
Posted in Reviews on November 3rd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
The ascent of Green Lung to the forefront of the heavy underground has been swift and uncoincidental. Over the last half-decade, the London-based, organ-inclusive nature-cult five-piece have developed a sound both familiar and distinct as their own, driven by brazen, big-swing hooks unabashedly pop in form and melody, doom and heavy rock riff-led groove and an emergent touring pattern further speaking to the we-want-to-do-this-full-time intention on the part of the band itself. This Heathen Land is the third Green Lung full-length and feels duly like a culmination of the time since they released their preliminary single “Green Man Rising” (review here) in 2017 ahead of their first EP, Free the Witch (review here), the next year, as well as a crucial step into the next phase of their career and a new level of distribution as their label-debut for Nuclear Blast. It is clearly not a moment they’re treating lightly, nor should they.
Now labelmates to the likes of Lucifer and Hangmans Chair (along with scores of others including Graveyard, Enslaved, etc.), Green Lung flirt with forest-goth kitsch on This Heathen Land in a manner that refuses not to be both heavy and (mostly) fun. Their sound is immediately identifiable as the spoken intro “Prologue” sets the stage with a description of “a country of lonely tors and desolate moors, of forgotten woods and mysterious standing stones” backed by vintage-ish budget-horror creeper synth before Matt Wiseman‘s drums spring to life with the feedback from Scott Black‘s guitar at the outset of “The Forest Church,” but there are some differences between what Green Lung bring to This Heathen Land and where they were even two years ago on 2021’s Svart-issued Black Harvest (review here) in craft and performance alike, and these are brought all the more into relief by the fact that the new nine-track/42-minute outing was recorded mostly by esteemed and returning producer Wayne Adams (also of Petbrick, JAAW, and others, with a list of albums helmed that has room for both Black Helium and Possessor) at Bear Bites Horse Studios, with mixing by Tom Dalgety and mastering by Robin Schmidt. There is a clear intention toward balancing largesse and the organic aesthetic underpinnings of Green Lung, the elements they derive from classic heavy rock, with the largesse of a modern release on arguably the world’s biggest heavy metal imprint.
This Heathen Land accomplishes this outright, and with the consuming, sweeping momentum built across “The Forest Church,” “Mountain Throne” and “Maxine (Witch Queen),” frontloaded longest-to-shortest after “Prologue” puts you in the place of the record being a BBC documentary on paganism from 1974 as vocalist Tom Templar begins a session of lyrical storytelling corresponding in its has-read-books-of-English-folklore framing to the ambitiousness of both the album’s theme and the breadth of its arrangements, which are dynamic even as Green Lung are undeniably more metal in their presentation than they’ve ever been.
Templar, in “The Forest Church,” the penultimate “Hunters in the Sky,” and elsewhere, can be heard pushing his voice into upper registers and that’s part of it in a classic-metal sense, but in Black‘s gleaming-sword lead tone shredding solos throughout, the punch in Joseph Ghast‘s basslines and the sound and placement of Wiseman‘s drums (Sam Grant is credited with additional drum engineering,), there is a sharpness to Green Lung‘s attack that, while offset by the late-afternoon folk fusion of “Songs of the Stones” — which does bring in an electric guitar later for Black‘s solo — feels very much like the band purposefully stepping up their game to reach as many ears as possible. This has been their modus all along from one release to the next, and they’ve always been songwriters, but in its front-to-back flow and the memorability of the pieces that comprise it, This Heathen Land is a richer manifestation of who they are than they’ve yet had.
Part of why is because, in both the lumbering breakdown chug of centerpiece “One for Sorrow” and the cheeky keyboard of “Maxine (Witch Queen)” that harnesses a bit of the ethic of Type O Negative‘s “My Girlfriend’s Girlfriend” — minus the sleaze, plus a witch — they’re simply doing more. Neither Black Harvest nor 2019’s Woodland Rites (review here) wanted for complexity in their arrangements, but This Heathen Land shows characteristic progression in the dynamic interplay between Black‘s guitar and Wright‘s organ, as well as in Templar‘s vocal layering and the placement of backing vocals. It’s somehow completely over-the-top — and never more so than in the finale “Oceans of Time,” in which Templar dons the mantle of Gary Oldman in Bram Stoker’s Dracula to deliver the chorus lyric lifted from the movie with a suitably grandiose sweep, call and response, and so on — and just what it needs to be.
And the procession followed by the songs, from “Prologue” into the push through “The Forest Church,” “Mountain Throne” and “Maxine (Witch Queen)” with the ’60s garage bounce of the latter giving over to the anthemic and boldly heavy “One for Sorrow” — chorus singalongs coming soon to any number of UK festivals, surely; I only hope they go into “Hunters in the Sky” immediately after, and that someone gets it on video — followed by the righteous rug-pull shift to acoustics with “Songs of the Stones” and the regrounding of “The Ancient Ways” before “Hunters in the Sky” unveils a speedier gallop they’ve been holding in reserve and “Oceans of Time” slows from that but spreads itself over a vast expanse in its still-relatively-compact six minutes to cap with a veer into the epic that answers the definitive hook in “One for Sorrow” and delves into gothic romance in a way far more celebratory than ironic.
The last lines as they push into the fadeout, snare popping to mark the steps of the run, guitar shredding wildly, vocals calling and responding, are, “I know you feel it, Vina/I feel it too/You’re part of me now, Vina/I’m part of you,” and the point being underscored is that Green Lung are all-in. Other than that Dracula took place partly in London, there isn’t a lot of connection between “Oceans of Time” and This Heathen Land‘s stated themes around British paganism, but the closer works where it is simply because they make it fit. Confidence and songwriting can go a long way.
Some more grainy synth at the outset ties to “Prologue” and other flourishes throughout, and much as they did with “One for Sorrow” at the end of side A, they execute “Oceans of Time” seemingly with the stage in mind. They’re speaking to their audience, the invitation outright at the beginning, “Come. It’s time to explore This Heathen Land,” and everything that follows, one way or another, unites around that idea even as each song serves its own function in adding to and not detracting from the entirety of the album, demonstrating a mastery of their approach that codifies their earlier work, uses the space in its production to offer new ideas and perspectives, and leaves none of its goals unaccomplished. It is a landmark for Green Lung, and will only bring more converts to their leaf-covered altar.
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 8th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Of course it’s about an actual witch. What, you thought Green Lung were gonna half-ass it? The London-based champions of sweeping and melodic heavy cult rock aren’t the type to roll out without their source material in order, and as discussed below — because I promise you I’m not going to try and pretend I’d heard of her before the clip — “Maxine (Witch Queen)” takes its basis from Maxine Sanders, who with her husband Alex in the 1960s led a revival of Wiccan practice. Green Lung bringing out a few actual people involved in Alexandrian Witchcraft at the time is fun trivia in a video that’s delightfully over-the-top, with fake blood and some eyeliner on vocalist Tom Templar and a club show at Helgi’s Bar in London turned into a debauched cultish celebration — as it inevitably would.
Green Lung‘s This Heathen Land full-length arrives on Nov. 3 and will be their first for Nuclear Blast. “Maxine (Witch Queen)” follows “Mountain Throne” and reinforces the band’s penchant for sharply-constructed mini-epics that are shy neither in their metallic delve nor poppish hookmaking. All good fun until the devil shows up, so yes, all good fun.
The PR wire sent the following:
GREEN LUNG RELEASE VIDEO FOR ‘MAXINE (WITCH QUEEN)’ THE SECOND SINGLE FROM THIS HEATHEN LAND
THIS HEATHEN LAND WILL BE RELEASED ON NOVEMBER 3RD
Occult rock darlings GREEN LUNG have released a new video for ‘Maxine (Witch Queen)’, the second single from their hotly anticipated new record This Heathen Land, which will be released on November 3rd via Nuclear Blast Records.
Vocalist Tom Templar comments “We’ve celebrated British witchcraft in our lyrics since our first EP, and with this new single we wanted to celebrate the most iconic witch of the modern era – Maxine Sanders. The High Priestess at the heart of Alexandrian Witchcraft, Maxine is an unsung national treasure, and one of the first people to connect genuine witchcraft with rock ‘n roll back in the early Seventies. ‘Maxine (Witch Queen)’ is a love song to Maxine from the perspective of a member of her coven, and melds pounding riffage with psyched-out combo organs and stacked, multi-layered vocal harmonies. We were honoured to have several members of Maxine’s real life coven appear in the music video, and advise on the ritual elements. Ultimately, the song is intended as a celebration of Maxine Sanders, which we hope will introduce new initiates to her life’s work, and help her legend to live on.”
CREDITS: Directed by: Billy Howard Price Director of Photography: Jacek Zmarz 1st Assistant Cam: Arthur Attenborough Gaffer: Jock Norton Colourist: John O`Riordan Starring: Manko as Maxine Starring: Lolita Postelthwaite as “The Girl” Filmed on Location at Helgi`s Bar, London
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 4th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Big hook and melody, sweeping keys, heavy riffing and an air of classic metal that may be a foreshadow for the record to come as Green Lung make ready to release This Heathen Land, their follow-up to 2021’s Black Harvest (review here) and their first LP for Nuclear Blast. If you think of Graveyard before Hisingen Blues, Earthless before Black Heaven, Kadavar before Abra Kadavar, that’s where the London-based heavy cult rock outfit are now. I’m not saying This Heathen Land is going to be on that level, but as a tense stretch of waiting before they offer up this thing they’ve made, the position is similar. A potential watershed moment for the band.
“Mountain Throne” is the first single from the record, which already has a UK tour announced to support its Nov. 3 release as well as European shows in October including a stop that puts Høstsabbat among the many festivals played this year, and pay attention to the guitar and organ together. On rhythmic and structural lockdown, as is their wont, Green Lung smoothly course through the song’s accessible, fest-ready four and a half minutes, sharper along the edges perhaps than they were a couple years ago and no less themselves for that. Do I need to say I’m looking forward to hearing more? Frickin’ duh. Sub-titled ‘A Journey into Occult Albion,’ This Heathen Land will be perfectly suited to its autumnal arrival, and is among my most anticipated releases for the remainder of 2023. Can’t imagine I’m the only one.
From the PR wire:
GREEN LUNG – This Heathen Land – Nov. 3
We couldn’t be more excited to announce that our third album THIS HEATHEN LAND will be released via Nuclear Blast Records on November 3rd, and is available to preorder on Bandcamp now.
‘Mountain Throne’ was the first song we wrote for the album, and we wanted to share it as the first single as it feels like a natural bridge from the old Green Lung to the new. We’ve always been inspired by the story of the Pendle Witches, and such an iconic subject required an epic rallying cry of a song – we hope that we’ve done these folk heroes justice! Old Gods Never Die!
Tracklisting: Side A: I: Prologue II: The Forest Church III: Mountain Throne IV: Maxine (Witch Queen) V: One for Sorrow Side B: VI: Song of the Stones VII: The Ancient Ways VIII: Hunters in the Sky IX: Oceans of Time
Recorded at Blank Studios and Bear Bites Horse Studios, February-March 2023 Engineered, recorded and produced by Wayne Adams, with additional drum engineering from Sam Grant Mixing and additional production by Tom Dalgety at Psalm Studios, April 2023 Field recordings made at Fritton Woods, Norfolk, April 2023 Mastered by Robin Schmidt at 24-96 Mastering
Illustration and graphic design by Richard Wells Gatefold photography by Andy Ford Art direction by Tom Templar
14-17 June Copenhell 2023 Refshaleøen, Copenhagen, Denmark 7-9 July 13 County Fair 2023 Penn Meadow Farm, High Wycombe, UK 28-29 July Rock Im Wald 2023 Oberfranken, Germany 25 Oct. Bonn, Germany Harmonie 26 Oct. Hamburg, Germany Indra 27 Oct. Berlin, Germany Badehaus 22 Nov. Glasgow, UK Cathouse 23 Nov. Manchester, UK Gorilla 24 Nov. Nottingham, UK Rescue Rooms 25 Nov. Sheffield, UK Corporation Sheffield 26 Nov. Bristol, UK Thekla 30 Nov. Wolverhampton, UK KK’s Steel Mill 1 Dec. Norwich, UK Norwich Arts Centre 2 Dec. Southampton, UK The Joiners 10 Dec. London, UK Scala
Green Lung Is Tom Templar – Vocals Scott Black – Guitar Joseph Ghast – Bass John Wright – Organ Matt Wiseman – Drums
