Emerging as they did in 1995 as Our Haunted Kingdom, they soon changed to Orange Goblin and quickly made their mark in the metal community with their debut album Frequencies From Planet Ten. Since then they’ve gone on to make their name with a series of full-on rock albums, with this new one being their tenth. What they’re offering here is an “absorbing exploration and exploitation of the world as seen through three fundamental factors .. religion, science and spirituality, and in particular, how they affect the human condition”.
The premise of the new album was influenced by the bands interest in Dystopian science fiction and cosmic horror. As vocalist Ben Ward says, since the pandemic, this is now more like a science fiction world.
But, sci-fi world or not, the band’s approach to its music hasn’t changed. They’re an amalgam of the kind of powerhouse sound of early seventies bands like Black Sabbath with the fire of the better punk bands. And they haven’t changed for this new release. After almost 30 years Orange Goblin aren’t in the business of doing anything as drastic as changing styles. What they’ve done is continue with their chosen modus operandi and come up with ten songs which mixes being heavy with the occasionally bluesy and stoner touches.
If you’re familiar with the music of the Goblin, a track-by-track breakdown probably won’t be necessary because you’ll know what’s coming, but certain tracks are worth mentioning.
‘Not Rocket Science,’ released as a single, is a driving slice of metal with Ben Ward telling us, “I’ve got something to say and I’m the one with the mic,” while the band lays down a solid base. ‘Cemetery Rats,’ with its slow and doomy piano intro, opens like Atomic Rooster’s ‘Death Walks Behind You’ before going on to resemble early Metallica. ‘False Hope Diet’ claims there’s money in their madness .. “did you take your medicine for mystery vaccines, man-made epidemics from their corporate machines,” which features some quite subtle guitar work from Joe Hoare, while we’re warned about the ‘Fury Of A Patient Man’ “..we’ve been pushed as far as we wanna go”.
This is a proper hard-rocking album, with style and quality and played by a seasoned band who knows how it’s done. In a recent interview, Ben Ward speculated about whether this might be the bands final album. While their fans will hope it isn’t, if it turns out to be so, this is a pretty good way to sign off.
