Orange Goblin United Kingdom

"The British stoners in Orange Goblin have been active since the mid nineties and are one of the bigger act on the British so-called stoner-doom scene.

To be honest, I do not think that "A Eulogy for the Damned" is neither very stoned nor very doom-laden - the tracks are simply to uptempo to be stoner-friendly, and there is too much groove for the music to be able to create a doomsday mood.

That being said, "A Eulogy for the Damned" is not a bad album because it is not. Orange Goblin are in fact extremely good at coming up with groovy riffs, some of which even rival some of Led Zeppelin's and Black Sabbath's groovy riffage. Although I do not think it is a specially stoned album, it's easy to hear that Orange Goblin find inspiration in the hard rock of the 70s, which not only is reflected in the groovy riffs, but also in the underlying drive of many of the tunes on the album, the bluesy lead guitars, and the generally rocked-up atmosphere that permeates the entire record. And, although I do not think that this is a very doom-laden affair, there is a generally dark atmosphere to be felt and some heavy passages, but few of them really reach the slow doom metal tempo.

In any case - whether you think it's stoner-doom or not - "A Eulogy for the Damned" is a very good groovy, '70s rock inspired album (albeit with a very modern sound), which should appeal to fans of sludge metal and 70s hard rock and classic heavy metal.

(review originally posted at metalmusicarchives.com)"