Time Travelling Blues (1998)
7.5
Blue Snow / Solarisphere / Shine / The Man Who Invented
Time / Diesel (Phunt) / Snail Hook / Nuclear Guru / Lunarville 7, Airlock
3 / Time Travelling Blues
Led
by the ultimate stoner vocalist – the bearded, towering presence of
decibel-man Ben Ward - Orange Goblin may be one of the quintessential
European proponents of the genre. Granted, their refusal to conform to
the basics and milk out a winning formula (each of their subsequent albums
would offer something different) immediately makes them stand apart from the
pack, but Time Travelling Blues still finds these geezers churning
out a batch of massive epics that owe a huge debt to the doom sounds of forefathers
Black Sabbath, while incorporating elements from sleazy ‘70’s
rock and in-your-face biker metal. Between the roaring motorcycle
engine that blasts off the album and the goofy result of a drinking binge
that closes the album, nine songs pass by like bulldozers on the loose, huge
and fucking loud. “Blue Snow” starts the proceedings off on a
high note, with a great groove and Ward’s fiercely bellowed vocals,
making a great fist-pumping anthem for those who appreciate lumbering chords
and galloping parts that were made to bang your head to. On other tracks,
like the bludgeoning “Solaris” and the ‘70’s-styled
“Nuclear Guru,” the band offers an unholy brand of Southern boogie
that’s closer to Raging Slab than Kyuss, but the majority of these tracks
aim to crush with unconditional force. That works well in some cases and great
during “Shine,” a tribute to both the trippy atmosphere (“Planet
Caravan”) and the straightforward, this-riff-is-gonna-mutilate-you-force
(“Sweet Leaf”) of the classic Sabbath-line-up, but after the impressive
opening hattrick, the album rarely reaches the same heights again. The shorter
“The Man Who Invented Time” and the instrumental “Diesel
(Phunt)” progress at what this band probably calls a breakneck pace,
but the riffs aren’t very memorable. Similarly, the second half offer
simply too much stoner-metal that follows the basic rules too closely. It
sounds damn overpowering, but when the stuff like the title track, which is
much more indebted to early ‘70’s hard rock becomes something
to look forward to, it must imply they could’ve done better. Still,
the majority of the songs are fookin’ tops and because of the
great start the album commences with, Time Travelling Blues is ultimately
a pretty valuable investment that already goes a long way in telling you why
this band has one hell of a live reputation.
Coup de Grace (2002)
8
Your World Will Hate This / Monkey Panic / Rage of Angels / Made
of Rats / Whiskey Leech / Getting High on the Bad Times / Gravitation
/ Red Web / Born with Big Hands / Jesus Beater / We Bite / Stinkin’
O Gin
“FFUUUCCKK!”
is the first roar you hear on this album and it pretty much defines my opinion
about it as well. Hot damn, this is an unapologetically hard-rocking affair.
Frill-less, down-to-earth, straightforward and heavy, VERY heavy,
with a thick, muddy guitar sound and hoarsely shouted barks that are as refined
as G.G. Allin’s notion of stage behaviour. Whereas their third album,
The Big Black, witnessed them continuing in the vein of stoner-metal
motherfucker Time Travelling Blues, but even more spaced-out, Coup
de Grace is a kind of return to the basics. Their lumbering heaviness
still ensures them a spot amongst colleague-stoners, but this is much less
about spacey-ness, neo-psychedelic grooves and mind-expanding trips. Instead,
they shove a bunch of warted, heavy-as-hell riffs and rhythms down your throat
that’ll leave you breathless for quite a while. With two guitarists
who both intend to take their amps to the limit, a rhythm section with the
finesse of a bull with rabies and a vocalist who sounds badder than the meanest
street fighter, Orange Goblin sound like a band you don’t wanna mess
with on their fourth album. Produced by Scott Reeder (Kyuss, Unida), it’s
an album that’s almost as much punk as metal, raw and direct. Just listen
to the brief “You World Will Hate This” and its comic book lyrics
(“Turning you on to a world of shit, twisted beyond a return, filling
your brain with a lot of cocaine, cos’ I got money to burn”) and
you’ll realize this is an altogether matter than before. But there’s
more where that came from, lots more: single “Monkey Panic” boasts
a great, pounding chorus, “Whiskey Leech” turns ‘80’s
hard rock inside out and takes a dump on its bloated corpse (well yeah, this
album makes you turn to other imagery than usual, bloke), and “Getting
High on the Bad Times” is guaranteed to make you dream up imaginary
scenarios full of venom, violence and assorted vices. Quite surprisingly –
because this is not where you’d expect him – stoner icon John
Garcia also adds his two cents during the thrilling “Made of Rats”
(the moment when his vocals go together with the acceleration of the bludgeoning
main riff is pure gold) and the interestingly titled “Jesus Beater.”
Of course it’s all over the top – and the artwork fits the music
perfectly -, but those who’ve been familiar with the band of course
know that behind the hooligan-attitude and brutal rock, these are plain guys
who dig good, old-fashioned fun, soccer games and the gentle art of applying
headlocks (as witness on their website, where you can see them at work while
nearly suffocating Alice Cooper and other luminaries). Of course, this band
is nearly an anachronism (why don’t they use loops and samples?), but
I don’t know about you, but once in a while some unpretentious, bad-ass
rock ‘n’ roll is just what I need, and when I hear these guys
tearing through The Misfits’ “We Bite” and churn out the
Southern roadhouse boogie of “Stinkin’ O Gin,” my faith
in the future of belchin’, ragin’, kick-in-the-balls rock ‘n’
roll is reinstalled. FFUUUUUUCCCCKKK!
Read album reviews of similar or related artists: Kyuss - Motörhead