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Rating:
FOR EVERYONE:
The OG are back, and there isn’t much to say—they've accustomed us to powerful and straightforward albums, and this one is no different.
Simple songs, gritty riffs, pounding drums and blah blah blah.....
In short, like many other bands that haven’t changed in years, if you’ve always loved them, you certainly won’t stop now.....
Simplicity and consistency pay off, etc. etc......
FOR MYSELF:
I no longer recognize them, my Orange Goblin.
In fact, to be honest, I no longer recognize many industry insiders in stoner rock either.
I’ve read enthusiastic reviews of this CD, and I genuinely don’t get it.
It was 1998 when I discovered them almost by chance, with “Time Travelling Blues” fresh off the press and a debut that went almost unnoticed quietly in the drawer; I bought it because the cover intrigued me, and discovered a powerful album (and band), (somewhat) original, engaging.
From there, a crescendo of emotions, from the wonderful and doom-oriented “The Big Black” to the punkish “Coup de Grace”, onward to the latest works, followed by a very slight yet uninterrupted decline.
The latest albums are good, to be clear, but not at the level of those mentioned before.
Certainly, Pete O'Malley's departure in 2004 didn’t help, the second guitarist capable of weaving very interesting tapestries that characterized the so-called golden years.
The new era has been marked by much more canonical and sometimes predictable songs, with solutions that reek of déjà vu that you do not expect, and this is bad.
Leaving behind the urge to experiment and propose intricate (never overly complex) songs, our guys take Mr. Kilminster’s band as their guiding light and dive headlong into playing raw and gritty, edgy and powerful, always searching for the chorus that gives the song some breath.
And once again, nothing new under the sun, but a wise hard rock/stoner album that can make many genre enthusiasts happy, even with today’s overcrowding.
Personally, loving more intricate and considered works, I found myself a bit disappointed by yet another collection of songs that sound so familiar and that sincerely convey little or nothing to me.
Very few significant peaks, among them the dark “Demon Blues” or the furious “Sabbath Hex”, great for headbanging with friends, but as for the rest, I find myself listening without deriving much satisfaction, and honestly, I didn’t expect that from such a band.
I won’t even mention the cover, truly horrible, while musically, I am faced with an overly homogeneous continuum of the latest works, as if today it’s enough to just do one’s task to barely score a pass.
Ben Ward's voice is now like an enraged dog barking at the moon, a clear evolution due to the excesses of tours; wonderful to hear how on “Frequiences from Planet Ten,” it was almost clean, then with each album, it progressively wore out until it became what it is today.
It’s clear then that we will all find ourselves half-naked, almost entirely unconscious and completely devastated, moshing and harming ourselves at one of their concerts, those truly still unmissable!
For the rest, I sincerely hope with all my heart that they abandon beer and return to magic mushrooms, because we all still desperately need them, in their best form.
Tracklist:
1. Sabbat Hex
2. Ubermensch
3. The Devils Whip
4. Demon Blues
5. Heavy Lies The Crown
6. Into The Arms Of Morpheus
7. Mythical Knives
8. Bloodzilla
9. The Abyss
10. Titan
11. Blood Of Them
12. The Shadow Over Innsmouth
Line-up:
Ben Ward: Vocals
Joe Hoare: Guitar
Martyn Millard: Bass
Chris Turner: Drums
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