Green Lung - London Review

These long weekends of gigging really take it out of you. It is amazing what a couple of days of trains, a poor diet, and unfamiliar sleep surroundings can do - but over the years I have been on many weekends away like this so am somewhat used to it. Despite that, though, even following a quiet day yesterday I was not really in the right headspace at first to trek across London to Kentish Town to catch Green Lung live at the O2 Forum. I had not really done much with my day, hoping to rest and catch up on some TV, but I was still feeling a bit rough by the time I had to leave. I did half consider bailing on the show and saving my energy for tonight's final night out of the weekend - but I persisted and soon found myself in the queue outside the O2 Forum. Green Lung are probably not a band I would have travelled to London to see were it not for the other plans around it. I am fairly new to them, having first started listening to them when This Heathen Land (which I reviewed here) dropped in 2023, but I gave that album a positive review at the time and still enjoy it quite a bit. Nothing else that the band have done has grabbed me in quite the same way, though. In truth, I have not heard 2019's Woodland Rites as it is very hard to track down here in the UK - but 2021's Black Harvest never felt as strong as This Heathen Land. Despite this, though, I wanted to see essentially what all the fuss was about. Green Lung are one of those bands who have really shot up in popularity over the past couple of years - to the point where they can pack out the O2 Forum. I am not sure if the show was officially sold out or not, but it was extremely busy throughout the night, especially down on the floor, so it is clear that Green Lung are really on the rise. I wanted to catch them in this somewhat transition period, then, as there is a chance that, if the current trajectory continues, they could soon be onto bigger venues than the O2 Forum - which for a new UK doom band would be quite an achievement. I have been to the O2 Forum many times over the years, but it had been a while since my last visit. As I was not 100% feeling up for the show, I decided to stand near the back - but after a while I remembered why I stopped doing this in the past. The venue is good when you are stood down in the pit - but the views and vibes from near the back are not great. I managed to find a pretty decent spot for Gren Lung themselves but for the support acts I struggled to really see and hear properly over those at the back who were there to talk and not there to enjoy the music. There was also someone nearby who was smoking weed on and off during the show, which is always annoying when there is no escape from it. I realise that I am sounding pretty miserable during this introductory paragraph - but there are good things to come. Not all gig experiences are great from start to finish - but it is frustrating when others do not think of those around them.

The opening band did not do much to change my mood, either. The Virginia-based four-piece Satan's Satyrs were the first band of the three-band bill, and their fuzzy, bluesy, doom music did little for me. I should probably state that I am not the biggest doom fan - especially at the bluesy/stoner end of the scene. I like epic doom and death/doom, but the weed-fuelled blues that makes up a lot of doom does little for me - so I was likely always on to a loser with Satan's Satyrs. Green Lung have bits of that in their locker, but they have much more of a traditional heavy metal base overall which appeals to me - were as Satan's Satyrs do not. A lazy sound mix likely did not help, but in some ways I feel that they are a band who probably like to sound messy. Their guitar tones were so fuzzy that it was almost indiscernible what was being played at times - and Clayton Burgess' (vocals/bass guitar) voice was pretty weak and strained, so there was no way it was going to rise above the pounding drums and two guitars with deliberately obnoxious tones. There are plenty of newer bands like Satan's Satyrs who seem to want to go for this overly retro sound which never really existed back in the 1970s. They all want to be Black Sabbath or similar, but those bands never sounded so messy - and Tony Iommi's guitar tone was always great. Retro sounds can certainly be taken too far. There are bands who do it well, and Green Lung is generally one of them, but in my opinion Satan's Satyrs are not one. They only had half an hour on stage and I am not sure I can remember one riff or vocal hook from any of their songs. Perhaps there were some songs there to be heard, but drowning them in awful guitar tones in an attempt to ape the 1970s is rarely a good idea.

The Oregon-based four-piece Unto Others were the evening's special guests - and they upped the quality quite significantly. I had seen the band twice before, opening for both Arch Enemy and Carcass, and have since picked up a couple of their albums - but, as is the case with Green Lung's early work, not everything they have released is that accessible here in the UK. Whilst I knew some of the songs played, then, there were large chunks of the set which I was not familiar with. I was looking forward to seeing the band again, who I think are actually headlining some of the shows on this European tour if they are bigger than Green Lung in the relevant territory, and they put on another strong show. Unfortunately, though, they played during the portion of the night where I found myself stood in the worst place. It was quite hard to move to somewhere better at the time, and the group of people directly in front of me would not stop loudly talking and laughing throughout the band's set - and occasionally they would push past to go back, yet again, to the bar. Thankfully I managed to move and I found a better place for Green Lung's set, but Unto Others were diminished by those around me. The band still played well, and did not seem to suffer from any sound issues, but they were hard to hear at times due to all the talking so I was not really in the right frame of mind to enjoy them. They played some of the hookier songs from last year's strong Never, Neverland (which I talked about briefly here), including the opener Butterfly and the hypnotic Suicide Today, as well as plenty of other songs from their other albums and EPs. Frontman Gabriel Franco's voice sounded as deep and strong as ever, and the guitar interplay between him and fellow guitarist Sebastian Silva made for some of the set's more exciting moments. The band's take on gothic rock is a pretty unique one, too, and I like what they do with the sound. Nothing sounds too contrived or ripped off from other goth bands - and each time I have now seen them live they have impressed. The situation yesterday did hamper my enjoyment of them, though, so previous experiences are likely to be more memorable in a positive way than this one.

During the changeover whilst people were moving around, and a few likely left who had only turned up to see Unto Others, I managed to find a much better spot to watch the rest of the show from. I was still at the back but I was slightly away from the main throng - so had a good view of the stage when the lights went down and Green Lung took to the stage. I had not been in the best of moods up to this point, but a couple of songs into Green Lung's set that changed - and I was glad that I had made the effort and not bailed on the night. I might not be familiar with all of Green Lung's work, but it did not really matter. The set consisted of essentially all of This Heathen Land and a few songs from Black Harvest - with only a handful coming from their debut. Those early ones which were played, though, were very easy to latch onto - and I had a great time from the off. Woodland Rites from the first album kicked things off, but the set really got going with the barrelling opening riff of Mountain Throne. The band's mix of early Black Sabbath, early Uriah Heep, and early Ghost really shone during this song - with Scott Black (guitar) really laying into his Gibson SG whilst John Wright (keyboards/percussion) added lashings of abrasive Hammond organ. For the next 90 or so minutes, then, Green Lung showcased why they are rising up the ranks. Great stage presence and a powerful sound mix helped to bring the songs to life - whilst frontman Tom Templar covered every inch of the stage and came across as down-to-earth whilst addressing the crowd. For me, the band are at their best when they are going all-out. As such, cuts like Reaper's Scythe in particular was an early highlight - but the band like to slow things down somewhat. Oceans of Time is probably my least favourite cut on the latest album, but live it really came across well. It showcased a bit more of a progressive side of the band's writing, with more intricate arrangements and keyboard textures - and it led into a more downbeat part of the set with slower, folkier songs like Song of the Stones and May Queen. The band were joined by a backing vocal trio called The Oosettes from this part of the show onward - and the three ladies also added some folky instruments to the former. They generally added vocals to all of the other songs in the set, too, which added some depth - and they created a vocal-only intro for the heavy The Forest Church which worked well and gave the song a different spin live. The rest of the main set was largely packed full of anthems, then, with the fast-paced Hunters in the Sky containing one of the evening's best choruses, which was duly sang loudly by the crowd (who were really into Green Lung), and a similar vibe continued during the slightly spookier Maxine (Witch Queen). It was left to another slightly longer and doomier piece Graveyard Sun to see the main set out, then, which was another track which came across better live than it does on record. It was a fitting end to what had been over an hour of music at this point, and the crowd really cheered for more as the band left the stage. There was plenty more to come, though, with a four-song encore kicking off with the related pieces The Harrowing and Old Gods, with the ladies again adding a lot to the former - before the band's fast-paced anthem Let the Devil In saw plenty of singing from the packed venue. I would have left it there personally, but there was one more - with the slow-paced One for Sorrow seeing things out. I am not sure the dirge was the best choice as a closer but we should not complain about more - and I doubt that most did. The setlist was:

Woodland Rites

Mountain Throne

Templar Dawn

The Ancient Ways

Reaper's Scythe

Oceans of Time

Song of the Stones

May Queen

The Forest Church

Hunters in the Sky

Maxine (Witch Queen)

Graveyard Sun

-

The Harrowing

Old Gods

Let the Devil In

One for Sorrow

Despite not enjoying the opening act and struggling to enjoy Unto Others due to not feeling 100% and those around me, Green Lung's excellent performance made the trip out worth it. They are very much a band deserving of the hype they are getting - and it is great to see a retro-sounding band out there doing things properly and actually sounding good. They seem to be going from strength to strength - and with a new album due to be recorded fairly soon I hope that this upward trajectory can continue.