ORANGE GOBLIN - Healing Through Fire
September 14, 2007, 17 years ago
(Sanctuary)
I’ve always had it in for these UK doom minimalists, but I’m starting to warm (ahem) to their world, especially with the slow seepage into the sound of American beard-pullin’ stoner rock, more riffs, a little more goin’ on, here on their fifth album, newly away from Lee Dorrian and Rise Above. Ben Ward’s hoary vocals either sound hollow or really incisive like Neil Fallon, making for a wide spectrum. The riffs are circular and note-dense and musical, again, more like American stoner rock (Fu Manchu, say) than doom, and the production is unbelievably wet at the drum end. Alabama Thunder Pussy is a good comparative, although Orange Goblin retain their long frustrating underground stand-offishness. A rough ‘n’ tumble live DVD is added for enticement, but the real substance comes with the hazy, crazy studio CD and the band’s high quality horror lyrics.
