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Review: Green Lung, Exchange
“We’re terrified that we’re going to get the plague,” admits splendidly named vocalist Tom Templar as he surveys the packed room and introduces a song entitled, ahem, The Reaper’s Scythe. In this post-lockdown, pre-vaccine passport rockin’ limbo, we have to rely on our fellow gig-goers’ covid awareness and the Exchange’s ‘VirusKiller’ air filtration units for our safety, which actually serves to boost the sense of community. And this oft-postponed show has been a very long time coming, increasing the anticipation. Hell, some punters even bought their tickets back in 2019.
If Templar’s confession seems a tad weedy in comparison to the mock-evil antics of the occult metal acts of yore, that’s because Green Lung ain’t that kind of band – despite the slogans on their covetable, mostly sold-out merch: Burn Churches Not Witches, A Little Death Never Hurt Anyone and the rather more niche Dead Kennedys/Napalm Death-referencing Nazi Occultists Fuck Off. Those promotional photo shoots in Dartmoor’s spooky Wistman’s Wood, along with the band’s lovable hircine mascot and backdrop of masked woodland folk cavorting gaily with The Horned One, might also lead the unwary to expect a folky Wicker Man vibe harking back to the days of Comus and Black Widow.
But no, the south London quintet deal exclusively in ’70s-rooted metal. And while some of their early compositions dip a little blatantly into generic Sabbath territory, the handful of songs premiered from upcoming second album Black Harvest demonstrate an eagerness to progress beyond the self-imposed limitations of more lumpen doom acts – as perhaps signalled by Templar’s nice new Pallbearer T-shirt. Specifically, the lush, melodic guitar/organ interplay on the likes of Leaders of the Blind sees them working on a much wider canvas, with an epic grandeur that will work well in the larger venues the Lung seem destined to fill. Templar wavers a little off key on occasion, but he also reaches ambitiously for the dog-bothering Rob Halford heights and mostly hits them, while Scott Black isn’t afraid of old-school guitar heroics and John Wright cannot resist joining in with the mass headbanging on those occasions when his keyboard services are not required.
is needed now More than ever
Inevitably, debut album Woodland Rites dominates, with The Ritual Tree and Templar Dawn (“Here’s a song about the Knights Templar,” being an introduction you don’t hear every day) providing the crunch, while May Queen permits a little Pagan mellowness to creep in. The corking climactic Let the Devil In has everyone punching the air and chanting “Let him in!” like possessed, grinning fools before the spell is broken and we shuffle out into the unseasonally warm September night.
Main photo: Green Lung
Read more: Metal & prog picks: September 2021
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