REVIEW: GREEN LUNG – THIS HEATHEN LAND (2023)

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Come, it’s time to explore” intones the voice at the start of “The Forest Intro”, “it’s time to explore this heathen land”.

And here’s the thing: I’m not a pagan, I am interested in the occult, or indeed any sort of religion for that matter – I have never needed an imaginary friend, but I can’t resist a Sabbath-style doomy riff that sounds like it’s summoning up the end of the world.

Oh, hello Green Lung.

“The Forest” itself, is utterly glorious. Even more fun than David Attenborough rummaging around in the undergrowth, the guitar solo, the organ. Yes, please. That’s an altar I’ll worship at, no worries.

“Mountain Throne” finds itself in the Pennines for some Cathedral-style fun. There are covens, there are rituals, but there’s a guitar solo to dream about. And my goodness, when Green Lung riff they riff.

“Maxine” finds itself in Alderley Edge and Notting Hill Gate so it racks up the miles, the organ parps like Ray Manzerk, and Tom Templar merrily rhymes “Maxine” with “wet dream” and no one is quite sure why.

“One For Sorrow” is initially slower, lurking in shadows and just a little bit scary, it suits them. And yes, we’ve had a little fun with the review, but it is wonderfully done. It’s an epic, deftly switching pace and tone, becoming the heaviest thing here. The album centrepiece if you like.

There’s a feeling throughout this that something is going on that we mere mortals don’t understand. “I was not alone” sings Templar on the real folk flourish of “Song Of The Stones” and if we’re not quite sure what’s out there (and maybe we don’t want to know?) Instead, we can be certain the flute adds a real depth, and the keyboards a gravitas.

Perhaps out of a desire to be contrary, perhaps born from a need to wake us from slumber, Lung follow it up with a screeching rocker in “The Ancient Ways” – although again as much as this is about riffs, then it’s about keys too, as John Wright is as much to the fore as Scott Black.

“Hunters In The Sky” is as Sabbath as this gets, and honestly, the stack harmonies are as timeless as can be.

And if you were hoping for a bit of a prog freak out then “Oceans Of Time” has got you covered, and the dark image-laden poetry of the lyrics somehow goes up a notch. For all the twists and turns, though, it still is done in seven minutes.

Can I be honest, dear reader? I’m amongst friends here, right? Confession time: I saw Green Lung open for Clutch last year and they didn’t grab me. I must have been giddy with anticipation for Neil Fallon’s boys or something, because “This Heathen Land” is sensational.

It’s a very English take on metal, a little like My Dying Bride, say (albeit the vocals are nowhere near as harsh). The album is subtitled A Journey Into The Occult Albion, and it’s a trip worth taking.

Rating 9/10

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