ORANGE GOBLIN - The Big Black
June 6, 2000, 24 years ago
(The Music Cartel)
Shining like the brightest star in the sky, Orange Goblin return with their third full-length, The Big Black. Unlike many of its stoner rock peers who mellow out in a subdued, substance-enhanced flight across the clouds, Orange Goblin rocket through the atmosphere on a grimy, loud-as-fuck Harley Davidson. Produced by Billy Anderson (Sleep, The Melvins) songs like 'Quincy The Pigboy' and 'Turbo Effalunt' belong in a bourbon-soaked barroom brawl rather than a hippie love-in. Getting down to business is what the Goblin is all about. No fluffy intros or laid-back interludes, just solid guitar licks and smooth vocals that are equally seductive and stabbing. Of course there's the occasional relaxed moment taken to light up, but then it's back to the riffs baby. Been hungering for the follow-up to Plastic Green Head, which Trouble never recorded? Well you have found a more than suitable successor. Ending the disc is a hilarious mystery track which isn't really a song at all. It's actually frontman Ben Ward rambling on and on and on into bassist Martyn's answering machine. Hiccups, stutters and the proclamation of being 'the drunkest man in the world,' which at that point in time he probably was.
