CD Review: Orange Goblin – A Eulogy for the Fans – Orange Goblin Live 2012
Candlelight Records
All Access Review: A
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| Orange Goblin - A Eulogy for the Fans - Orange Goblin Live 2012 |
If the Hell’s Angels ever need a house band, they could do
worse than Orange Goblin. These beer drinkers and hell raisers from Britain
emit a gnarly heavy-metal roar as loud and smoky as the dirty exhaust pipes of
an old chopper. And in all probability, like their brothers in denim and
leather, they haven’t showered in months.
Or at least they probably hadn’t by the time they played
Bloodstock and Hellfest in 2012, while out on the road supporting their late
2011 album, A Eulogy for the Damned.
Welcomed with open arms by the great unwashed, the record knifed its way into
the U.K. Top 200 upon its release and motored all the way up to No. 38 on the
Billboard Heat Seeker’s chart. Taking no prisoners, A Eulogy for the Damned also conquered CMJ’s Loud Rock album
listings by eventually grabbing the top spot. Still, as devastating and
sonically brutal as A Eulogy for the
Damned was, Orange Goblin’s studio LPs have never quite replicated the
manly musk and hairy, brawling energy of the Orange Goblin live experience.
New from Candlelight Records, A Eulogy for the Fans
– Orange Goblin Live 2012, comprised of thrilling performance recordings
from both of those festivals of mayhem with videos and documentaries packed
into a lively DVD, fills that void and then some. From the first squeal of
feedback, Orange Goblin and their grizzly bear of a lead vocalist in Ben Ward set
out to pillage and plunder, with churning, furious riffage born of ‘70s proto-metal
and a healthy respect for doom rock, thrash and heavy, psychedelic blues that
comes alive in the raging maelstroms of “Red Tide Rising,” “Quincy the Pigboy”
and “Scorpionica.”
Relentless and punishing, Orange Goblin – established in
1995 – skillfully and dementedly handle twisting, crushing shifts in binge-and-purge dynamics with
teeth-gnashing glee, sending the recent single “The Filthy & the Few”
speeding into oblivion, bulldozing their way through “Acid Trial,” and then
mauling “The Ballad of Solomon Eagle” and “Some You Win, Some You Lose” in
beastly fashion. Whether he’s beating a meaty, menacing riff to death or flying straight into the sun on unpredictably wild solos, guitarist Joe Hoare
maneuvers his way through the carnage like some crazed motocross rider. Hoare
tears the guts out of the zombie-movie tribute “They Come Back” and the sprawling,
Black Sabbath-like horror of “The Fog,” as Ward, Orange Goblin’s Rasputin of a singer, treats chilling lyrics in a gruff and malevolent manner that puts the
fear of God into anybody who hears it. And that rhythm section, heaving to and
fro while seeming so certain of its direction and drive, doesn’t shy away from a good bashing either.
There’s a little bit of cowboy in Orange Goblin, as the
psychotic, mesmerizing grind of the irrepressible “Round up the Horses” so
aptly illustrates, and this live effort comes off like a never-ending bull ride
that tosses its audience around like rag dolls. Summoning the ugly power and raw,
massive muscle of originators like Blue Cheer, Mountain and Vanilla Fudge,
Orange Goblin claws through the tattered Southern rock glory of “Time Travelling Blues” and the rest of this set list violently, sending the frenzied crowd
into paroxysms of metal madness. Those who were there are probably still
talking about as one of the best nights of their lives.
- –
Peter Lindblad
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