- hardrockcore
ORANGE GOBLIN - The Wolf Bites Back
ORANGE GOBLIN
The Wolf Bites Back
Candlelight/Spinefarm

“Rise up, Sons of Salem, Your Mother’s cursed you at birth,” opens the albums lyric after a pummeling drum beat from London’s own ORANGE GOBLIN. OG is a band who may have flown under the radar of many through the past 20 years, but their recent releases have grabbed more of the spotlight and this album should fulfill more of that spotlight as the album has a bit more focus on its sonic ability and the songs feel more organic but more congruent to speak in a geometric sense.
To me, there’s always been something magical in bands that emerged from the 90’s within this genre, FU MANCHU, CREATURE FEATURE (aka RETRODEMON), SLO BURN, whose roots obviously trace back to the unmentioned forefathers of the genre but they are able to carry the torch and stay true to themselves at all times. In learning about how this album was made in the English countryside, experimenting with instrumentation, it’s fairly evident in the slow-paced THE STRANGER in which the blues is tackled with an open, honest approach from frontman BEN WARD in why he “feels so numb.” There are more ‘hardcore’ type tracks with SUICIDE DIVISION which crushes ahead with 2-minutes of fury that could have found it’s way into a myriad of bands albums from the early 80’s in the genre.
The slow grooves are still present, SWORDS OF FIRE, the swagger exists in BURN THE SHIPS, and it won’t surprise me if The Wolf Bites Back ends up on many Top 10 lists for 2018 as their short time away has helped them craft the next level of Orange Goblin and I hope the masses are quick to pick it up, enjoy the ride, and carry that torch for years to come!
🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻
Mark - HardRockCore
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