London’s Green Lung follows up its debut album Woodland Rites with second LP Black Harvest, and if you’ve already guessed that we’re getting a metalized soundtrack to a folk horror epic that exists only in the band’s head, you’re dead on. (They’re called Green Lung, for fuck’s sake.) Over chunky guitar riffs, grinding organ and a thundering rhythm section, vocalist Tom Templar rants about how “the harrowed harvest moon hangs in the sky” with utter conviction, apparently dedicated to bringing back the old ways, when nature was to be feared as much as revered. Whether it’s the seething power ballad “Graveyard Sun,” the cruelly welcoming “You Bear the Mark,” or the powerful doom anthem that is the title track, dark rites and pagan religion creep constantly nearby, and Templar’s admonition “Don’t be frightened/There’s nothing to fear” never sounds convincing. With its melody-oriented riffology and occult themes, it’s tempting to call Green Lung a more rural Ghost, but there’s a raw, earthy tone to the band’s attack that never comes close to the Swedish stars’ slick popcraft. “Old gods never die!” proclaims Templar in, naturally, “Old Gods,” and with the band storming behind him, you believe him.
