Posted in Whathaveyou on April 22nd, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Some say the world will end in fire, I say Orange Goblin‘s final holiday-special show might just do the trick. Somewhat inevitably, London’s doom rock overlords will conclude their 30-year run with a UK stint in December, culminating Dec. 17 at 02 Kentish Town Forum, accompanied by Grand Magus and Urne. I have to wonder if Solace will fly over for that last show.
Either way, Orange Goblin‘s career is indeed a thing to celebrate, and if they end up doing festivals in five years or other projects or nothing at all forever, they’ve never done anything but make their fans proud to be fans, and they’ve kicked more ass than entire scenes. Going out on their own terms, whether it’s forever or not, is one more example.
Got this from social media:
**ORANGE GOBLIN ANNOUNCE ‘END OF TRANSMISSION – THE FINAL TOUR’ FOR UK & IRELAND IN DECEMBER 2025!**
Here it is folks, these will be the LAST EVER shows for Orange Goblin and we will be bringing our good friends Grand Magus and URNE along for one final trip around the country!
‘We are delighted to finally announce that Orange Goblin will do one last tour of the UK and Ireland in December 2025 before we call it a day! It’s going to be bittersweet performing at these last 7 shows, seven of the biggest shows we will have ever played! Although there will be sadness at this being the end, we are very happy to be able to bring along two amazing bands that we took out on their first ever tours, old and new. From Sweden, we have the almighty power of GRAND MAGUS, a band that we toured Europe with way back in 2002, and then again in 2004. We have always remained friends and know what an amazing live act they are, everytime they take to the stage.
Opening up each night will be one of the best UK bands of the past 10 years, URNE, who we took on their first UK tour back in 2021. We were blown away with their modern take on metal and the soundscapes they create, mixing subtlety and aggression! These promise to be very special shows and will be your very last chance to come and drink, headbang and rasie some hell with Orange ‘Fuckin’ Goblin Baby!’ We will be playing songs from throughout our 30 year career, so whether you’re an old die-hard or a new fan, there should be something for everyone.
“We’ve been announcing final shows all over the world this year, and have been reading the fans’ comments about doing one last trek around the UK and Ireland, so we didn’t want to disappoint them and feel that it will be fitting to end our journey in our hometown of London! One last Orange Goblin Christmas knees-up anyone? You know it makes sense!” – Ben Ward, Orange Goblin 2025
10.12: The Garage, Glasgow, UK 11.12: Button Factory, Dublin, IRE 12.12: KK’s Steelmill, Wolverhampton, UK 13.12: Academy 2, Manchester, UK 14.12: SWX, Bristol, UK 16.12: The 1865, Southampton, UK 17.12: o2 Forum Kentish Town, London, UK
Orange Goblin is: Ben Ward – Vocals Joe Hoare – Guitar Harry Armstrong – Bass / Backing vocals Christopher Turner – Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 22nd, 2025 by JJ Koczan
If this is really it for Orange Goblin — and my hope is that 2025 is their retirement run like Ozzy Osbourne did ‘No More Tours’ that time in the early ’90s — then there are few in metal of any genre who could stand up to their run of 30 years, 10 albums (and none suck), and a path of devastation that has flattened the world over. It’s sad to think that I might already have seen the band for the last time I will — though they were great, Freak Valley ’23 (review here), so no complaints — but they don’t owe anybody anything, and they leave open the possibility of coming back for more. Maybe five years from now everybody’s really happy Orange Goblin announce a tour? You can’t blame them for wanting to take some time. It’s been 30 years.
Congratulations on the anniversary and (not that they need me to say it but) job well done to Orange Goblin. If you caught their 10th and maybe final album, Science, Not Fiction (review here), last year, you know they’re going out on top of their game, should in fact they be ‘going out’ in a permanent way at all, the thought of which gives me what apparently in first-grade social-emotional learning they call “big feelings.”
Orange Goblin traditionally end the year with a holiday run, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve saved a blowout for this December, last time and all. I’ll keep an eye, but their statement from socials does hint at more “in the pipeline.” To wit:
**30 YEARS OF ORANGE GOBLIN….AND THAT’S ALL FOLKS!**
As Orange Goblin enters its 30th year of existence, we have made the collective decision that 2025 will be our last. Maybe not forever and who knows what could be possible further down the line. It’s been a wild 30 years and we have had some incredible experiences and are left with magical memories. For that we are all truly grateful. We started the band with no real preconception of what it eventually became, we started as bored teenagers with a mutual love of Heavy Metal, Classic Rock and Punk Rock. We feel very fortunate that we have been able to travel all over the world, numerous times, and have made a network of friends all around the globe. We are proud of everything we have accomplished together, we’ve always maintained a DIY ethic and done things our own way and on our terms. We have never compromised to fit into any specific scene and we feel we leave a very strong legacy of 10 studio albums, each one a milestone that marks exactly where we were at each point of our journey. Of this, we are fiercely proud. It’s not been an easy decision for any of us, we have all given 30 years of our lives to this incredible band, but we feel that now is the right time for us to focus our attention on our families and other interests outside the band. We will of course be honouring all the shows and festivals we currently have planned for 2025, as well as a few other things that we have in the pipeline, but these could be your last chance to catch Orange Goblin live!
We would like to express our gratitude to every single person that has made this possible for us, there are far too many to name personally, but especially to our wives and children that have supported us no matter what, our former band mates, Martyn and Pete, the current and former road crew that have kept the show on the road for so long, despite us never making things easy for them. But last and by no means least, we thank you, the Orange Goblin fans that have been the bedrock of everything for us. Nothing we have done would’ve been possible without the fans that have bought the albums, the merchandise, the show tickets and ALWAYS showed us and made us feel just how appreciated we are. We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts……….
– Ben, Joe, Chris & Harry Orange Fuckin’ Goblin Baby! End of transmission. 1995-2025.
Orange Goblin – Final Shows 2025 07.03 Thessaloniki GR 08.03 Athens GR 09.03 Sofia BG 24.05 Baltimore US 13.06 Into the Grave, NL 19.06 Hellfest, FR 31.07 Rockstadt Extreme, RO 02.08 Wacken, DE 03.08 Sylak Open Air, FR 06.08 Brutal Assault, FR 08.08 Bloodstock, UK 15.08 Frantic Fest, IT 05.09 Summer Dying Loud, PL
Orange Goblin is: Ben Ward – Vocals Joe Hoare – Guitar Harry Armstrong – Bass / Backing vocals Christopher Turner – Drums
It’s a rare band that one might call hungry 10 records into a nearly-30-year career, but as Orange Goblin return with their first LP in six years, Science, Not Fiction — also their label-debut for Peaceville Records — they transpose the more metallic aggression that typified 2018’s The Wolf Bites Back (review here) and 2014’s Back from the Abyss(review here) onto a production sound more decisively rooted in heavy rock and roll. As a result, not only do songs like the declarative opener “The Fire at the Centre of the Earth is Mine” — which gives making-his-first-on-album-appearance bassist/backing vocalist Harry Armstrong, who joined in 2021, the honor of starting off after a few seconds of threatening rumble — or “(Not) Rocket Science,” the classically Motörheaded “Cemetery Rats,” “The Fury of a Patient Man,” the penultimate “The Justice Knife,” and so on, pummel you into the ground, but they do so with an overarching vibe as natural as the dirt you’re about to eat.
Armstrong, guitarist Joe Hoare, drummer Christopher Turner and vocalist Ben Ward recorded with producer Mike Exeter — who also mixed (Peter Hewitt-Dutton mastered) and notably worked on Black Sabbath‘s 13 album as well as several other catalog releases from doom’s forebears, has helmed outings for latter-day Judas Priest, etc. — and are well served by the character and shape of the resulting sound, which is less about isolating each element in its own everything-else-muted waveform than bringing together the entirety with as much force as possible. And if it needs to be said, in Orange Goblin‘s case, there’s a lot possible.
That’s not to say Science, Not Fiction — and as someone who appreciates a well-placed comma, the title is all the more admirable for the heavy lifting it does in framing the perspective of the lyrics to pieces like “(Not) Rocket Science” and “False Hope Diet” — is all thrust. Since 1997’s Frequencies From Planet Ten (discussed here), Orange Goblin have been about a more dynamic take on songwriting, and however much they might be defined here by charge, Science, Not Fiction is characteristic in its ability to change it up around that, whether that’s manifest in the midtempo groove of “False Hope Diet” — which is the longest inclusion at 7:13 and a duly grim assessment of the current age echoing the watch-the-world-melt/we’re-all-screwed-and-it’s-our-own-fault point of view in “The Fire at the Centre of the Earth is Mine” — the piano introducing “Cemetery Rats” or the breakdown in closer “End of Transmission,” which feels as self-referential in its near-psychedelic divergence as in the namedropping of past full-lengths.
But even these moments carry the tension of the surges and gnashing around them, and while the band aren’t shy in telegraphing their own intensity amid the swinging slowdown in the nod beneath the somehow-motivational layered shouts in the second half of “Ascend the Negative” — lines like “Reclaim your time, reclaim your mind, conquer negativity” feel a bit like Ward self-coaching through his well-publicized experience of getting sober (nothing against that, of course) but are ultimately too intelligent to fall into a St. Anger-style trap of therapist-delivered cliché maxims — just because you know the next punch is coming doesn’t make the bruise any less purple afterward.
Indeed, across the 53-minute entirety of Science, Not Fiction‘s deluxe edition, which includes the bonus track “Eye of the Minotaur,” one finds Orange Goblin doing nothing so much as owning who they are through reaffirmations of perspective, craft and character, and the challenge being issued is more inward than out. That is, they’re pushing themselves to hit their own high standards, whether that’s in capturing the sweeping energy of who they are onstage (in which I’d argue they’re successful) or in the level of songwriting that lets “Gemini (Twins of Evil)” feel so fluid in the groove it rides while remaining memorable (despite being tucked into on side B with “The Justice Knife,” away from ‘focus tracks’ like “(Not) Rocket Science” and “The Fire at the Centre of the Earth is Mine” at the album’s outset.
All of it is quintessential Orange Goblin, from the hook “It’s not rocket science and we’re doing alright” — one wonders who the “we” is there; if it’s human beings generally, the point is arguable; if it’s the band itself, kudos on the humility since by that time, about seven minutes into the record, they’re kicking a fair amount of ass — to “This isn’t over/We’ve got the devil’s work to do” in “Gemini (Twins of Evil).” And while the boundary pushing that comes through feels born of uniting past and present styles, this too feeds into the idea of Orange Goblin declaring themselves, taking uncompromising ownership of who they are as a band, and putting it directly in the face of those fortunate enough to listen.
No doubt some of those will be newcomers to the band, whether that’s listeners beginning to make their way into the heavy underground or those who up till now just haven’t taken them on. In that regard, the vitality of Science, Not Fiction seems primed to serve as a righteous introduction to what Orange Goblin do in uniting metal, punk, heavy rock and various other substyles under those umbrellas. The reference to past work in “End of Transmission,” or maybe even the way it shifts into an early-’90s-style brooding spoken part after the midpoint, would surely find its impression enriched in the context of prior releases, but I’m not sure that hurts the basic listening experience of the song taken on its own merits so much as it might add another layer of appreciation after the fact.
And if you wanted to show someone what Orange Goblin are about, cuts like “Cemetery Rats,” “The Fire at the Centre of the Earth is Mine,” and “False Hope Diet” represent them at their absolute best, as veterans who may have moved beyond youthful arrogance but still have something to say and a suitable propulsion with which to say it. Because of this, it matters little if Science, Not Fiction is your first Orange Goblin record or if you tape-traded the Our Haunted Kingdom demo in 1994; they sound fresh, excited and exciting in these songs in a way that can only be considered definitive. They are unmistakable, and this album is a welcome example of why.
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 28th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Orange Goblin will this summer lay claim to the fire at the centre of the earth (among other things) with the July 19 arrival of their new album, Science, Not Fiction, and honestly, a reminder of that is probably enough to justify this post on its own, but the London stalwarts announced this UK/Ireland tour with Conan last week while my head was ostriched in the Quarterly Review, and that pairing is too good to let slip. Plus it’s not until October, so the idea that I’m ‘late’ on posting the news is an illusion bred by social media brain-shortening. December would be late.
There are two singles streaming from the impending Science, Not Fiction in the title-track and “Cemetery Rats,” both of which have a shove behind them one can only call signature Orange Goblin groove and push. Not that I can confirm or deny having heard it or anything, but the whole album is a burner. Conan reportedly have a new LP in the works as well, which will be their first to feature bassist David Riley (ex-Fudge Tunnel), who joined late last year. No idea whether that will be 2024 or 2025, but my suspicion is the latter.
But there’s no time like the nearer-future to get yourself pummeled by two of England’s finest, so here are the dates:
Not only are we releasing a new album in July, but we are going on tour in October around the UK & Ireland and taking our good friends in Conan with us!
Tickets for the Orange Goblin ‘Science, Not Fiction’ UK & Ireland tour in October 2024 are on sale NOW and already selling fast so don’t miss out!
04.10 – Opium, Dublin, REP. OF IRELAND 05.10 – Limelight 2, Belfast, N. IRELAND 06.10 – King Tut’s, Glasgow, UK 08.10 – Gorilla, Manchester, UK 09.10 – KK’s Steel Mill, Wolverhampton, UK 10.10 – The Fleece, Bristol, UK 11.10 – The 1865, Southampton, UK 12.10 – The Dome, London, UK
Artwork by: Machine
Orange Goblin is: Ben Ward – Vocals Joe Hoare – Guitar Harry Armstrong – Bass / Backing vocals Christopher Turner – Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 5th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
After the reveal of the first single “(Not) Science Fiction” yesterday — it’s also below if you don’t feel like opening another tab; I’ll tell you up front it’s not every band that gets two posts in two days around here — Orange Goblin have followed up this morning with an announcement for the July 19 release of Science, Not Fiction, their 10th album, and the launch of preorders through Peaceville Records.
Word of the album came through their email list, and according to that, it was sent to subscribers a few hours early, so I’ve delayed posting this in an effort to not be, well, a prick about it. But I mean, if you heard the track yesterday — and if not, don’t think you’re late — then I think the turn in production style from 2018’s The Wolf Bites Back (review here) or 2014’s Back from the Abyss(review here), that sharper, more metallic edge in the sound, makes sense. They don’t come on stage to, “It’s a long way to the top if you wanna be a metal band.” They come out to classic heavy rock. What I hear in “(Not) Rocket Science,” aside from the optimism of the lyric, “We’re doing alright” — which, as a species, are we really? — is Orange Goblin‘s version of that. It’s not about going back to an earlier style, necessarily, because the point of view, sound and style is new, but about bringing a more organic-feeling side of their sound forward. I’ve only heard the one song, so can’t tell you more about the record than that, but I hear purpose there and am intrigued to find out where the rest of Science, Not Fiction goes.
The tracklisting below is the CD digipak version, which comes with a bonus track. That’s the one I ordered, so that’s what I’m using. The info below is combined from the email they sent to subscribers (that’s your hint to sign up for their mailing list), the preorder page on Merchnow, and the tour dates I think I initially grabbed from their Facebook. If it seems like a hodgepodge, that’s probably why.
I probably should’ve gotten a t-shirt bundle. Alas:
ORANGE GOBLIN – SCIENCE, NOT FICTION – JULY 19TH 2024 – PRE-ORDER NOW!
Science, Not Fiction – the band’s 10th studio album. Recorded and produced by Mike Exeter (Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Tony Iommi) at Woodworm Studios in Oxfordshire over a few weekends at the end of 2023.
Available as: 10 Track Double 45rpm Vinyl (various colour choices) 10 Track Deluxe Digipak CD 9 Track CD Range of merch bundle combinations available.
Originally formed in London under the name Our Haunted Kingdom back in 1995, celebrated UK metal greats Orange Goblin entered the world of heavy music as wide-eyed enthusiasts, eager to channel the fire and fury of their favourite bands. Emerging amid the exhilarating melee of the mid-‘90s stoner rock and doom explosion, Orange Goblin’s debut album ‘Frequencies From Planet Ten’ was released via underground imprint Rise Above Records in October 1997.
Since then, the quartet has shared the stage with legendary acts such as Alice Cooper, Danzig, and Heaven & Hell among numerous others on their rise to prominence. A stream of critically acclaimed and widely revered studio albums also added to Orange Goblin’s substantial legacy, from early classics like ‘Time Travelling Blues’ and ‘The Big Black’ through to more recent triumphs like 2012’s universally praised ‘A Eulogy For The Damned’ and 2018’s equally hailed ‘The Wolf Bites Back’.
Fast forward to 2021 and Orange Goblin ushered in a new era of metal chaos, signing with legendary UK metal imprint Peaceville Records, with long-standing trio Ben Ward, Joe Hoare & Chris Turner joined by new bassist Harry Armstrong for this next chapter.
The first fruits of this union manifest in new studio album ‘Science, Not Fiction’; an absorbing exploration (and exploitation) of the world as seen through the three fundamental factors; Science, Spirituality, & Religion and how they determine and affect the human condition. Commandingly articulated as ever through vocalist Ben Ward, this is backed by Orange Goblin’s unmistakably catchy and accomplished yet often deceptively intricate brand of Sabbath-ian Heavy Metal thunder.
‘Science, Not Fiction’ was recorded at Woodworm Studios UK in late 2023, with production and mixing duties carried out by Grammy winning producer Mike Exeter (most notable for his work with Black Sabbath) and mastering was conducted by the esteemed Peter Hewitt-Dutton at The Bakery in LA.
This edition of ‘Science, Not Fiction’ is presented on digipack format, including the bonus track, ‘Eye of the Minotaur’, including 20 page booklet.
Tracklisting: 1. The Fire At The Centre Of The Earth Is Mine [05:19] 2. (Not) Rocket Science [04:21] 3. Ascend The Negative [05:23] 4. False Hope Diet [06:57] 5. Cemetary Rats [05:57] 6. The Fury Of A Patient Man [03:01] 7. Gemini (Twins Of Evil) [05:05] 8. The Justice Knife [04:58] 9. End Of Transmission [05:51] Bonus Tracks 10. Eye Of The Minotaur [04:32]
Orange Goblin live: 06.04 – Cyclone (Shibuya) – Tokyo, JAPAN (w/ Church of Misery) 07.04 – Soccer Factory, Osaka, JAPAN 09.04 – Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide, AUSTRALIA 10.04 – The Basement, Canberra, AUSTRALIA 11.04 – The Zoo, Brisbane, AUSTRALIA 12.04 – Crowbar, Sydney, AUSTRALIA 13.04 – The Croxton, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA 15.04 – Mothership, Auckland, NEW ZEALAND 16.04 – Rolling Stone, Christchurch, NEW ZEALAND 17.04 – Valhalla, Wellington, NEW ZEALAND
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 4th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
This weekend, Orange Goblin begin their tour of Japan, Australia and New Zealand, and before they went — and even I think a day early, the band has posted a lyric video for their new single, “(Not) Rocket Science.” And it’s a rocker. Handclaps and all. The first studio offering from the band since 2018’s The Wolf Bites Back (review here), and the first with bassist Harry Armstrong — who for sure gets his punches in — has a classic heavy groove propelled by Christopher Turner‘s drums, a line of keys or guitar deep in the mix to add to the urgency, and a trademark gruff vocal from Ben Ward in a hook over a choice Joe Hoare riff. Call it Orange Goblin, because it’s Orange fucking Goblin.
I don’t know when their 10th album, from whence the new single comes, will be out, but hearing this only makes me more excited at the prospect. Not gonna delay further. Here’s the info, the tour dates, the video. Go go go:
Legendary UK metal giants Orange Goblin are back with a new single “(Not) Rocket Science”
Video created by Matthew Vickerstaff (IG @matthew_vickerstaff )
“(Not) Rocket Science” is a matter of fact observation on the human tendency to over-complicate life …” Frontman and lyricist Ben Ward says “It’s basically saying that life can be pretty simple and straightforward if you just stop wasting your time and make each day count. Be prepared to work hard, don’t expect any hand outs and basically enjoy yourself along the way. When Chris came up with the music he said it needed something that could be delivered in a Bon Scott / Lemmy style and I think it came out really well”.
06.04 – Cyclone (Shibuya) – Tokyo, JAPAN (w/ Church of Misery) 07.04 – Soccer Factory, Osaka, JAPAN 09.04 – Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide, AUSTRALIA 10.04 – The Basement, Canberra, AUSTRALIA 11.04 – The Zoo, Brisbane, AUSTRALIA 12.04 – Crowbar, Sydney, AUSTRALIA 13.04 – The Croxton, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA 15.04 – Mothership, Auckland, NEW ZEALAND 16.04 – Rolling Stone, Christchurch, NEW ZEALAND 17.04 – Valhalla, Wellington, NEW ZEALAND
Posted in Bootleg Theater on February 2nd, 2024 by JJ Koczan
I’m not trying to sound like a gatekeeper here, or like I’m invalidating anyone’s opinions about whatever, but I will give some serious side-eye to any list of the best all-time doom or metal records that doesn’t have a reverential place reserved for Candlemass‘ debut album, Epicus Doomicus Metallicus. Released through BlackDragon and Leviathan Records in 1986 — arguably a pinnacle year for metal with landmarks from Slayer, Megadeth, Metallica, Voivod, Iron Maiden, and Saint Vitus, among others — it set in motion one of doom’s most essential, genre-defining progressions and became a model that, more than 35 years after its arrival, continues to inform the aesthetic in mood and sound. It is a blueprint for doom metal even as it captures a band who never really existed.
The story is famous by now that Candlemass were set to record their first long-player and founding bassist, principal-songwriter and bandleader Leif Edling brought in Johan Längquist to fill the role of lead singer. Candlemass had been around for a couple years at that point, operating under the moniker of Nemesis since 1982 with guitarist Mappe Björkman joining in 1985 — lead guitarist Lars Johansson and drummer Jan Lindh joined in ’87; the band’s second album, Nightfall (discussed here), came out that year and was their first with frontman Messiah Marcolin — and Längquist wasn’t so much in the band as on the songs. Difficult to imagine anyone involved thought they were making a heavy metal landmark when it came out, but there continues to be magic in the six-song/43-minute run of Epicus Doomicus Metallicus. Opening track “Solitude” is morose in its beginning in a way that feels like it’s speaking to what would’ve been a nascent goth culture in 1986, and the riff that takes hold is a clarion to worshipers of Black Sabbath: “Come in and be among your own.”
“Solitude,” “Demon’s Gate,” “Crystal Ball,” “Black Stone Wielder,” “Under the Oak,” “A Sorcerer’s Pledge” — the immediacy of side A gives over to more of a storytelling feel for side B, and therein lies the heart of doom. Because Candlemass are rightly credited with crafting a style tagged as “epic doom,” and a lot of the bands working under their influence in the last, oh, 35-plus years are tagged the same. Fair enough. But that’s really more about Nightfall and its own follow-ups, 1988’s Ancient Dreams (discussed here) and 1989’s Tales of Creation, and the Messiah Marcolin era that hadn’t begun yet when Epicus Doomicus Metallicus was recorded, even if the band themselves are telling you how to consider their work right there in the title: “epicus.” Certainly what they would become and the path they’d take over the course of the rest of the 1980s — which is inarguably the root of the influence they’ve had on two-plus generations of doomers subsequent to their earliest output; Candlemass share another commonality with Sabbath in that their 1990s work is undervalued in light of what they’d done prior — were hinted toward in “Under the Oak,” “Black Stone Wielder,” and the narrative “A Sorcerer’s Pledge,” but their doom hadn’t yet earned its patience or poise, and Epicus Doomicus Metallicus is rougher than nearly everything Candlemass would do after in terms of its basic sound. This becomes a great strength throughout the album.
The version streaming above is a 2007 remaster from Peaceville Records. It came with a bonus disc of live material recorded in the UK in 1988 that’s also part of the Bandcamp stream. You can hear in its sound a little more separation between the instruments — that may just be a result of raising the volume for what was then a 2CD/LP edition; a 3LP version came out in 2022 — and maybe that’s imaginary or power of suggestion, but it feels just slightly different from the original. Consider Längquist in the open space at the end of “Solitude.” That’s a brief moment, but so pivotal, and in this edition he seems just a little more isolated. I’m not saying it’s an enhancement to the material — it’s neither pro or con — just something you should be aware of if you listen. The original version I’m sure is on YouTube or whathaveyou if you feel like you want to chase it down, I just went with an official release.
One way or the other, I believe strongly in a Canon of Heavy, which is to say a league of records no home should be without. A level of performance, songwriting, aesthetic or craft that’s so essential to understanding what heavy is, was, or can be, that it can and should not be ignored. I’m talking about universality within a heavy subculture. Some shit everybody can and should get on board with. Epicus Doomicus Metallicus stands among the ultimate examples in my mind of this, and is a release that should be celebrated for its own accomplishments in innovating and helping to shape the style of doom metal, as well as for how cognizant it seems to be of what it’s doing. That is, Candlemass probably didn’t know they’d still be putting out records in the 2020s, but they are, and as on 2022’s Sweet Evil Sun (review here) and on 2019’s The Door to Doom (review here) that earned them wide accolades and a Grammy nomination, it’s Längquist on vocals — a part of the band at last, in addition to being an essential component of their history and thus that of doom at large.
It was a long and tumultuous road, with breakups, reunions, Robert Lowe from Solitude Aeternus fronting them for three records after coming aboard in another need-a-singer situation following an apparently-final split with Marcolin ahead of 2007’s King of the Grey Islands, which I can’t believe hasn’t closed out a week here before. So it goes with a band whose discography is rich both with singularly righteous doom and historical back and forth. But the work stands, as ever, and in Epicus Doomicus Metallicus, in their very first album, Candlemass set forth a blueprint for themselves and for others of what doom could be, how it could engage with the likes of the NWOBHM or even thrash, and retain its signature melancholy. Also it’s great.
Thank you for reading. As always, I hope you enjoy.
—
Made it through the week, which feels impressive. Earlier this week sucked. Early every week sucks. The Patient Mrs.’ semester has started, so she’s in class on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. We were in Connecticut last Saturday and last Sunday had company for a brunch playdate. The Pecan threw up Monday morning so I kept her home and that killed Monday and Tuesday here. 15 years later and I’m still scrounging for seconds of the day to write. Feels great.
I turned on Zelda and let the kid play so I could at least bang out some text to go with the two premieres that happened on Tuesday, and that was basically the day. Tuesday she went back to school and I dug into the whatnot, have been trying to catchup ever since and have not yet succeeded. But the week’s over, so I’ll pick back up Monday and still be behind. This weekend? Oh, well, Saturday we’re having company for brunch and then Sunday is a playdate. I expect the usual amount of getting caught up to take place.
Apologies if you’ve sent me email and I haven’t answered. Or social media messages. Whatever. Sorry. I’m trying my best and can’t even slate reviews for stuff I want to write about, let alone stuff I haven’t heard yet.
My new laptop, which is smaller — and if you’d call me out for bitching about that when I’m typing on a brand new computer, I’ll kindly refer you to the 40-plus years of my fucking life I’ve spent engaging with materials designed for people smaller than I am, whether it’s clothes, cars, Nintendo controllers, laptop keyboards, socks, on and on, and I’m not even just talking about being fat and trying to squeeze my ass in somewhere; I’m talking about how I have to scrunch my shoulders in to properly position my wrists on the condensed keyboard and it fucking hurts now when shit doesn’t fit because I’m old — came with a bunch of obnoxious intrusive bundled crap that no one ever, ever, ever wants but that keeps one jackass employed at Microsoft, presumably whichever AI they’ve hired as the CEO. I should’ve stayed home from CT last Saturday and set it up. Instead, I did it over the course of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday while also trying to do Obelisk stuff and blew my brains out like 70 times trying to perform what seem to be for most individuals basic functions and tasks and failing outright all the time, every day. Constantly.
Do you know what my wife has? My wife has a text chain. Okay. A text chain. This text chain was born out of a Facebook group. The Facebook group was splintered off another one. The original was called Academic Mamas, and it was/is a group for mothers who are in academia, who are college professors like my wife or researchers, etc. Then it was Academic Mamas of 2017s for those who had kids the same year we had The Pecan. Then she found Academic Mamas of Special Needs 2017s, and then that became a text chain. Madness, right? Stay with me.
Do you know what they do on this text chain? They support each other. They talk about their day, or something that was hard, something that was easy, and they’re just there for each other, with advice or encouragement, whatever it is. They’re supported. Women supporting each other. Sometimes I very much wish there wasn’t so much shame around masculinity. I feel like I’m so ashamed of being angry, sad, bitter, resentful, all of these things, that they just sit and fester and I lose out on so much because I’m still back there trying to lug my own bullshit baggage. See? I even just called it bullshit! I can’t even get through a sentence talking about it without undercutting myself. That’s how it feels to be a man.
And nobody gives a shit. Nobody. Ain’t no text chains here. You got a problem? Sort it out, man. Man up. Go watch some football or something. Go punch a wall, which I’ve definitely done. Go shoot up a grocery store, or your school, or anywhere. Jump off a bridge. If you’re me, eat compulsively. This is what men get as options, and I think it’s perhaps the only instance wherein the cultural privilege of being a man is a detriment — because usually that’s pretty good livin’ as regards cultural dominance; I’ll remind you I don’t have a job — because since everybody else is worse off between women and those who identify outside the cisgender binary who the hell is going to offer any sympathy when one of the conditions for being a man in the first place, along with your babykiller pickup truck and, I don’t know, being a cop?, is killing that sympathy within yourself? The word ‘toxic’ is overused, but not misused.
So I’m gonna go sort all that out over the next 48 hours or so. Then probably write a book and live off speaking fees for the rest of my life. You have a great and safe weekend. Have fun, watch your head, hydrate, kill the patriarchy for the betterment of all humanity. End war. End fossil fuel consumption today. End money. End guns. Start love.
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 17th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
A few weeks ago, London doom rock titans Orange Goblin put word out of their plans to record their 10th full-length next month. That’ll be their first studio outing since 2018’s The Wolf Bites Back (review here), and six years between full-lengths is the longest stretch of their career, that itself coming up on its 30th anniversary, depending on from when you count their start.
The numbers aside — and certainly one might account for an extra year or two between albums considering the years in question — I’m curious to know where Orange Goblin are headed with their first long-player of this bizarre decade. The Wolf Bites Back followed on from 2014’s Back from the Abyss(review here), and both of those aligned the band toward a more straight-ahead and aggressive production style, still definitely riff-based, still definitely Orange Goblin, but a little more toward heavy metal than some of the records preceding.
Am I complaining? Hell no. I’m saying I’m eager to know where that’s leading and what’s in store on the new record, which will also be their first since Harry Armstrong joined on bass. As regards shows, the band has recently put out word that for 2024 they’ll play Switzerland in March 9 for the inaugural Plug Out Festival there, and that they’ll be in Belgium in August for the Alcatraz Festival.
Easy to imagine tours being built around these, so when they did the ‘big things coming’ thing and teased announcing this tour, the only real question was which one it would be. Neither, it turns out. They’re going to Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Go figure.
From socials:
**ORANGE GOBLIN ANNOUNCE TOUR OF JAPAN, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND FOR APRIL 2024**
After many years of being asked, Orange Goblin have announced that they will finally return to Japan and Australia in April 2024, whilst also adding their first ever shows in New Zealand!
These will be the bands first shows in Japan since 1999 and their first in Australia since touring there as part of Soundwave Festival in 2013. We are excited to return and also to visit New Zealand for the very first time EVER!
Catch the band at: 06.04 – Cyclone (Shibuya), Tokyo, JAPAN* 07.04 – Soccer Factory, Osaka, JAPAN 09.04 – Lions Art Factory, Adelaide, AUSTRALIA** 10.04 – The Basement, Canberra, AUSTRALIA** 11.04 – The Zoo, Brisbane, AUSTRALIA** 12.04 – Crowbar, Sydney, AUSTRALIA** 13.04 – The Croxton, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA** 15.04 – Mothership, Auckland, NEW ZEALAND*** 16.04 – A Rolling Stone, Christchurch, NEW ZEALAND*** 17.04 – Valhalla, Wellington, NEW ZEALAND***
* = Support in Tokyo from Church of Misery ** = Support in Australia from Dr Colossus and Astrodeath *** = Support in New Zealand from Pieces of Molly
