In my observation, nearly everyone who’s a serious fan of metal started out in one particular genre. But I think if you’re passionate about music, the more you listen, the more your interests will expand to encompass different styles. It’s not necessarily the product of boredom with where you started, though that might be part of it. Sometimes, it’s the listener who is changing, and a different kind of music begins to appeal to a different you. And sometimes as your sophistication and knowledge as a listener grow, you simply begin to understand and appreciate aspects of music that once held no interest.
In my case, I’m developing a new-found enjoyment of heavy-riffed stoner metal, a school of music that for me used to start and stop with Mastodon. Don’t get me wrong — it’s not going to replace more extreme forms of metal as my favorites, but I’d be lying if I denied that I’m having fun with it. Most recently, I’ve been having fun with the forthcoming album by long-running UK band Orange Goblin. It’s titled A Eulogy For the Damned, and Candlelight Records is scheduled to release it on February 14. I don’t know if we’ll review it here — I don’t feel particularly qualified to do it myself — but we’ll see.
However, it doesn’t take deep knowledge of the genre to spot a good video for a good song, and that’s what I did this morning. Orange Goblin and Candlelight just released a black-and-white, part-performance, part-animation video for a new track called “Red Tide Rising”. The song is a titanic motherfucker of a headbanging romp, with hooky melodies rising and falling, evil lyrics addressing the rise of Cthulhu, and instrumentation that does its level best to break necks. All those who worship at the church of the riff, come forth and lend your ears to this:
(Apologies to Ben C. for stealing the “church of the riff” phrase from his new blog, which is already helping to expand my stoner metal horizons.)
7 Responses to ““RED TIDE RISING”: ORANGE GOBLIN DEBUT A NEW VIDEO”
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That was fucking excellent! Definitely going to picking up the full album, church material if I ever heard it.
I agree with Ben. Never really gave “stoner” metal a decent listen, but I liked that, a lot. The bass line in that song is the fucking shit.
Agree totally about the bass in this song. It just jumps out — one of the things that made the song so immediately appealing to me.
I could get into more stoner metal if there was more that sounded similar to this. Any suggestions?
And while I am asking, what are the genre characteristics of “stoner” metal? Becuase this sounds like edgier version of Southern Rock with a blues-ey feel to it.
*an.
Having my head exploded all over my cubicle has affected my typing skills.
Here’s an update: The entire Orange Goblin album is now streaming here:
http://music.aol.com/new-releases-full-cds#/7
Stoner rock/metal is certainly my preferred genre of heavy music and OG has been a staple in my rotation since I heard “Time Travelling Blues” almost 12 years ago.
Been watching for this album for a while and from the video, it’s not gonna disappoint.
As far as other bands to check out I couldn’t really say. Most of the bands that are thrown into this category have their own thing going on and some sound different from album to album. Then there are bands that have cropped up within the last two to three years that are really gunning for sounding just like the bands that came before them, don’t get me wrong, they’re not bad, it’s just already been done (there are soooo many Clutch clones!).
Same as with anything else, it comes down to what you like. If we’re talking Orange Goblin, I’d say maybe Truckfighters. Of my faves I’d say ELDER, Monster Magnet, Heavy Eyes, and Wiht (although I’m not really sure they’re stoner rock….kinda hard to say. I rock out to them when I’m stoned….does that count?).