Orange Goblin – A Eulogy For the Damned (Candlelight)

Orange Goblin has long been one of the better denizens of the hard rock/metal underworld, despite a seemingly marginal awareness of its existence. (A five-year absence from the record racks hasn’t helped its case much in that regard.) The UK quartet’s cheerful mix of Blue Cheer acid thuggery, Black Sabbath occult whimsy and Motörhead power riffing sounds tailor-made for headbangers of every stripe, and A Eulogy For the Damned finds the Goblin firing on all cylinders. Whether indulging in Hammer-style horror in “Bishop’s Wolf” and “The Fog,” tripping through psychedelic grunge with “Death of Aquarius” and “Acid Trial,” roaring down the highway in “The Filthy and the Few” and “Red Tide Rising,” adding a singalong chorus to “Save Me From Myself” or just demanding that we all “Stand For Something,” the band unleashes the rifferama with little restraint, leaving room only for giant-sized frontbeast Ben Ward‘s colorful vocals. A Eulogy For the Damned simply sounds more savage, more exuberant and more tuneful than anything in the band’s past. Five years in the wilderness apparently did the Goblin good.

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