Orange Goblin – The Wolf Bites Back

[schema type=”review” name=”The Wolf Bites Back” description=”Label: Spinefarm Records” author=”Miguel Melo” pubdate=”2018-06-15″ ]Orange Goblin is a stoner metal band from UK. They have a new studio album, the 9th in their history, that goes by the title of “The Wolf Bites Back”.

Introductions made, allow me to explain in detail what they mean to me. When I got to know them, back in 2013, they were already a veteran straight rock band. They started in 1995, today they are 23 years old, and all the 4 original members keep in the band to this day, that being already a remarkable achievement. I saw them in Portugal, in a kind of small city festival, no idea who they were. And I had no clue what was going to happen, but oh boy, it was unbelievable. This band had huge trouble to come to a festival without a member that couldn’t continue due to injury, accidents, fire, their truck broke. And yet, they delivered one unbelievable concert, with the crowd flying around like crazy, and Ben Ward crying his eyes out in immense gratitude, saying that they almost canceled the tour. Glad they didn’t. They are hardcore rockers, with humongous strength and heart. My love for this band is directly connected to the memory of one of the best concerts of 2013. Apologies for a sort of review of a concert that happened almost 5 years ago, this was just to explain that their albums will never beat this live performance. I tried and I tried, heard them ad nausea, time and time again, and yet I am always disappointed because it just isn’t the same thing.

But don’t take me wrong, “The wolf bites back” kicks ass. Emotion and nostalgia aside, these guys are legends and provide a pure hard rock work that deserves every single bit of our attention and focus. The first song is a ready like sing along, “Sons of Salem” is summoning all of as to a celebration. Drops a bit the feeling in the second track, the one that gives the name to the album. While there are interesting rifts, it’s kind of repetitive. “Ghosts of the primitive” is long and takes it’s time to end. Sounds longer than actually is, maybe due the fade-out effect. I’m still undecided if I like their instrumental try “In Bocca al Lupo”, title meaning “good luck” in an Italian idiomatic expression that has the words mouth and wolf, thematically consistent with the theme of the album. It’s an interesting try, but could this one could be longer, 2:13 is not enough and could have some more thrashing in it. We have Ben Ward engaging in a very unusual vocal performance in “The Stranger”, surprising because this English giant rocker is capable of a sweet smoky sounding voice. This might be the entry in the album that most sticks to my mind. I pick it as my favorite track of the album. “Burn the Ships” provides a solid rhythm reminding waves, courtesy of the solid work of the bassist Martyn Millard, and that’s quite interesting since “zeitgeist” is the perfect ending track to set sail. Set sail on burning ships (pun absolutely intended). I got a very good impression from this album and compared to some of the most recent ones, there is definitely an improvement.

To summarize, if you want a solid, pure, metal band, praising rock and roll, you have “The Wolf bites again” fresh out of the oven, providing you some of the best British stoner sounds that you can get. If the album doesn’t totally suit if you notice some shortcomings, don’t worry, nothing is lost. Go to their concert. I cannot recommend it enough. These guys deserve a toast with unlimited beer. I’ll be there to salute the old wolves and show them my absolute gratitude.

Line Up:
Martyn Millard – Bass
Chris Turner – Drums
Joe Hoare – Guitars
Ben Ward – Vocals

Tracklist 01. Sons of Salem 02. The Wolf Bites Back 03. Renegade 04. Swords of Fire 05. Ghosts of the Primitives 06. In Bocca al Lupo 07. Suicide Division 08. The Stranger 09. Burn the Ships 10. Zeitgeist

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