Orange Goblin Albums (6)
What The Critics Say
Ah, what to make of Orange Goblin -- a band that's almost always produced good, sometimes great, but rarely categorically excellent music over the course of a decade and five CDs, which saw them slowly transition away from the fading stoner/doom movement that originally inspired them before reaching something of a creative impasse on 2004's Thieving from the House of God. If anything, that album's more traditional but also less distinctive brand of heavy rock and metal was largely offset by the upside that was guitarist Joe Hoare's successful handling of all six-string duties, following the departure of co-founding guitarist Pete O'Mally. But its long awaited successor, Healing Through Fire, has no such excuse for not delivering the goods -- especially after marinating for a whole three years. Here, once again, Orange Goblin appear committed to treading the heavy metal middle ground, yet listeners may still spot a few subliminal signs of stoner rock hiding just beneath the surface of tracks like "Hot Knives and Open Sores" (featuring an inverted Trouble riff) and epic closer "Beginner's Guide to Suicide" -- not to mention vocalist Ben Ward flirting with a low-slung growl, reminiscent of Clutch's Neil Fallon on occasion. But with the possible exception of uniquely memorable opener "The Ballad of Solomon Eagle" and the also stoner-reminiscent "Cities of Frost," typical new efforts like "The Ale House Braves," "Hounds Ditch," and "They Come Back" mostly just sound belabored, stunted, even mediocre, before second-half thrash-outs manage to break them out of their dispiriting rut. OK, so the aforementioned Hoare once again deserves credit for his one-man power chord tour de force, plus surprising forays into acoustic classicism ("Mortlake (Dead Water)") and twangy swamp blues ("Beginner's Guide to Suicide" again), but in most other respects, Healing Through Fire only illustrates Orange Goblin's "always good, sometimes great, rarely excellent" dilemma. Who else wants to bet that their next album will mark a full-scale return to stoner rock? [Special editions of Healing Through Fire also boast a bonus DVD containing about 30 minutes of mostly unimpressive live performance, recorded at London's Mean Fiddler, with brief but amusing studio and interview footage interspersed among the ten tracks.] ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Many wondered how Orange Goblin would cope as a four-piece following the departure of second guitar player Pete O'Malley, but, by making it sound like nothing has changed, the band's fifth album, 2004's Thieving from the House of God, answers that question with a perfunctory "just fine, thank you." Of course, as will be discussed shortly, this same "staying of the course" could also pose a problem. But first things first: except for retreating just a tad from the overt punk-metal of its predecessor, Coup de Grace, Thieving from the House of God retains the same, appropriately thick and meaty post-stoner rock crunch -- neither here nor there in terms of outright hard rock or heavy metal -- that Orange Goblin fans have come to expect. "Some You Win, Some You Lose" gets the ball rolling in promising fashion and the novelty of counterpoint vocals in the chorus; and ensuing hard rockers like "Hard Luck" and "Black Egg" each manage a few surprises between them -- be it in the former's clever lyrics, or the latter's striking use of piercing, soulful female vocals. But prospects quickly grow dim with the forgettable "One Room, One Axe, One Outcome" (which has only its name to call interesting), and any hopes that Orange Goblin will magically conjure a truly great single or minor metal classic are duly squashed as one moves through the album. The mounting riff-fest of "Round Up the Horses" momentarily harkens back to the giant, Sabbath-sized power chords of the band's early LPs, but all it signals in the end is a strong, not thrilling, finale driven by the friendly countenance of ZZ Top's "Just Got Paid," and the mildly interesting, nine-minute, sub-space sprawl of "Crown of Locusts." More than anything, Thieving from the House of God leaves very contradictory feelings in its wake. On the one hand, there's a positive notion of "mission accomplished" for the band's transition into existence as a quartet; but on the other, there's a negative and worrisome sense of "what now?" realization suggesting that, despite their best efforts, Orange Goblin may well be doomed to always remain a very good hard rock/heavy metal band which may never amount to a truly great hard rock/heavy metal band. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
With the stoner rock movement seemingly finally and unequivocally headed toward extinction, along with many of its last champions (the once-mighty Monster Magnet dropped, the promising Unida left in unreleased album limbo, the dependable Fu Manchu still going nowhere fast, and the eclectic Queens of the Stone Age transforming into something altogether other), it was no surprise to see Orange Goblin, one of England's foremost purveyors of the genre, looking for the exit sign as well. And that's just what they did on their fourth album, Coup de Grace, dispensing with the last remnants of their ultra-baked, space rock musings (given a final, discreet spin on instrumental "Graviton") to deliver what is essentially a straight-up hard rock album...remember those? Produced by stoner rock veteran Scott Reeder (Kyuss, Unida), ironically enough, Coup de Grace introduces a much more immediate, in your face, almost punky Orange Goblin and, in the process, completely re-packages the band for the next phase of their career by adopting the cartoonish horror flick artwork usually associated with White Zombie. Rough and raw hard rockers like "Your World Will Hate Us" and first single "Monkey Panic" quickly establish this "new orange order," which also includes a very faithful cover of the old Misfits staple "We Bite" (where vocalist Ben Ward does his best Glenn Danzig karaoke). "Made of Rats" and album highlight "Jesus Beater" don't just feature a cameo, but a full-on co-lead vocal performance from another Kyuss alum, John Garcia (whose voice, it must be said, remains one of the finest of his generation), and the also excellent "Getting High With the Bad Times" and "Rage of Angels" offer the most promising signs of things to come. In short, Coup de Grace is obviously a transitional effort for Orange Goblin -- a not yet fully formed blueprint of where they really intend to go from here. Therefore, though it's heavy as hell and at least as good as its predecessor, The Big Black, whether Coup de Grace will be the most representative Orange Goblin album remains to be seen. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Because the band had been immediately signed to highly regarded Rise Above Records (perhaps the ultimate stoner rock/doom metal label) and had sounded so mature and "together" straight out of the box, Orange Goblin was put under more scrutiny than most young groups. And after weathering a noticeable sophomore slump with 1998's often lackluster Time Travelling Blues, the quintet members probably knew they needed to come up with a strong showing the third time around in order to prove their worth. Early believers already knew that here was a supremely competent set of musicians, who managed to borrow most of the basic elements laid down by their stoner metal forefathers (Kyuss, Monster Magnet, Acrimony) without actually sounding too much like any of them. But their still developing songwriting skills hadn't really allowed them to stand out from that of other solid second-generation stoners, as of yet. Thankfully, their third opus, The Big Black, took a quantum leap in that direction by boasting Orange Goblin's most consistent and memorable batch of tunes thus far. The explosive power of opener "Scorpionica" immediately hints at this development, and further highlights like "Quincy the Pigboy" and the ultra-spacy "Cozmo Bozo" quickly confirm the listener's hopes. The propulsive, mad dervish of "Turbo Effalunt (Elephant)" (no doubt a stoned mispronunciation done good) provides as straightforward a head-banging delight as the band has ever committed to wax, and lengthy space rock jams like the title track also tend to avoid the excessive mucking about of previous years. Also conspicuously absent are the generally disposable organ accompaniments, which had cluttered the band's first two outings. This timely release also arrived as the Goblin's biggest UK competitors for stoner rock supremacy (Electric Wizard, Cathedral) were temporarily out of commission, helping the band attract many new fans as well as significantly more media attention. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
'Time Travelling Blues'
Release Date 10/26/1998
Tracks 10
Label Music For Nations
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Following just a year after their impressive debut, Time Traveling Blues is essentially a holding pattern for England's Orange Goblin, both in terms of quality and creativity. Opener "Blue Snow" slowly grinds into gear (revving Harley Davidson and all) and leather-lunged stoned giant Ben Ward soon takes over, leading his troops through the colossal riffing of "Solarisphere" and the pile-driving intensity of "The Man Who Invented Time." The spirit of Deep Purple is channeled into the organ-led opening to "Shine," which quickly devolves into a virtual remake of Sabbath's "Spirit Caravan" before exploding into action with what is possibly the album's most memorable riff. Unfortunately, the band seems to blow their entire load in the album's first half, and the remaining material succumbs to that dreaded stoner rock no man's land of repetitive riffs, inconclusive jams, and indifferent vocal performances, none of which leaves any lasting impressions. Occasional bright spots pepper the Southern rock-ish "Lunarville 7, Airlock 3," but you just know these guys can do better. And thankfully they would with their next outing, the excellent The Big Black. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
'Frequencies From Planet Ten'
Release Date 12/1/1997
Tracks 9
Label Music For Nations
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Upon first listen, Orange Goblin's interestingly named Frequencies From Planet Ten was a remarkably professional-sounding debut, but a closer look quickly revealed that the band's sonic identity was still maturing. Opener "The Astral Project" serves as their de facto resumé, covering the band's entire stylistic repertoire, including doomy riffs, psychedelic melodies, spacey jams, stoner grooves, and even, occasionally, jazzy accents. Most of the songs that follow revisit these elements -- all of them -- at once! And that's where the boys' bluff is called. While they obviously worked their butts off trying to please all the camps, the disc's best songs are usually those where they stop trying to be so damn eclectic and just get down to some serious head banging. For proof, check out the killer intro and minor chord perfection of "Land of Secret Dreams" (arguably the album's best offering) and the all-out pummeling of the excellent "Aquatic Fanatic." They also have a little fun exploring their healthy fetish for J.R.R. Tolkien on tracks like "Saruman's Wish" and "Lothlorian," as well as their very name, of course. All things considered, this was a solid first effort, and while they would subsequently suffer the expected growing pains, Orange Goblin was on their way to bigger and better things. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
