Green Lung – Free the Witch EP re-issue

Label: Kozmik Artifactz
Releasedate: 29-11-2019

With Green Lung ’s increasing popularity and add to 2020’s London Desertfest lineup, Kozmik Artifacktz decided to give them a re-issue of their EP “Free the Witch” this time on vinyl, originally it was released digitally. I hope I am not the only one who agrees that that eerie cover art deserves to be printed on a vinyl sleeve for it to be better appreciated.

The opening track “Lady Lucifer” is a stellar introduction to this stoner ride, starting off with a tasty riff that initiates the trance. The vocals have an early sabbath feel to them in that they sound nasal but also quite distant and is if they were going through a heavy echo chamber, effect which goes hand in hand with this genre and mostly when the subject matter is being hypnotized by Satan’s bride!

“Free the witch” is the EP’s title track and this time the topic is, well, witchcraft, as stereotypical as that can be, it is just so fitting with the style. Much more than the legendary band Witchcraft (one of my favorites by the way) writing songs about a nation with a bad economy with folky doom vibes, so off-putting! So my stance on these type of bands overusing the same lyrical inspiration is to keep on doing it!

Musically speaking, this is another killer track that brings all the elements that make this band great to the forefront. 

“Living fossil” is probably my favorite track off the lot, it has a great riff oriented verse that seamlessly gels with the hooky chorus that is followed by a transition that showcases the power of the wah effect in this variation of slow heavy music. With lines such as “Unless summoned by the slowest riffs” or “Live slow, Never die, I’ll spend an eternity getting high” Living fossil might very well become a new anthem of Stoner/Doom rock.

“Older than the hills” serves as an ideal transition, musically proving the perfect confirmation that Green Lung are indeed ‘Living fossils’. The song starts with a bluesy overdriven bass line which screams to be noticed as a Sabbath homage. Lyrically they also keep dwelling into the land of the occult and mystery which just fits so well with slow down tuned groovy riffs. The song has a superb guitar finale that just makes you want to come back and revisit the whole EP all over again.

With this re-issue there was also a bonus track added “When the Axe comes down”.  Although it is a very good track, you can immediately recognize that it’s not at the same caliber as the songs that were included in the original release. By this I am not trying to say that this song is weak, by no means, all the elements are there, it’s hard rocking, slow and hooky when it has to be, I think it just proves how good the previous songs really are.

To end this review I just have to say that Green Lung are truly a blast from the past.

Malleus Maleficarum! Malleus Maleficarum!

Line up:

• Tom Templar – Vocalist
• Scott Black – Guitarist
• Andrew Cave – Bassist
• Matt Wiseman – Drummer
• John Wright – Organist

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