Words and Pictures: Adrian Hextall / (C) MindHex Media
How is it that we only got 2 UK dates on this tour? Manchester and London, unsurprisingly packed to the rafters as Green Lung, Unto Others and Satan’s Satyrs brought old-school heavy metal show of epic proportions to fans who have had tickets for some 8-9 months since they first went on sale.
With a queue before doors opened that stretched down the road, round the corner and into the Kentish Town distance, there was clearly a desire to get up close and personal with the three acts on the bill. A mixture of t-shirts both inside and out suggested that the reception for all artists would be good and I think bands and audiences, on the strength of the performances were not disappointed.
Satan’s Satyrs
Having disbanded in 2019, after founder, singer and bassist Clayton Burgess left to work with Electric Wizard, it seemed like it was all over for the dynamic foursome from Virginia. Thankfully, having a change of heart and leaving EW as their bassist, Clayton Burgess pulled a Blues Brothers and put the band back together. The new line up, effective from 2023 now comprises longtime guitarist Nettnin, and new musicians from New York, drummer Russ Yusuf and guitarist Morgan McDaniel. With 2023’s “Quick Quiet Raid” 7″ single and 2024’s After Dark LP on Tee Pee Records it’s a welcome return for the band and they provided the perfect launch pad for the evening’s events.
With more swagger than Mick Jagger and outfits that fitted the 60s retro vibe perfectly, it’s easy to see why Burgess was so inspired by Electric Wizard. That he’s taken that love of retro fuzz rock and reemerged stronger and better with this new incarnation of Satan’s Satyrs is testament to his determination to succeed.
On the strength of the performance with Nettnin acting as the Keith Richards to Burgess’s Mick Jagger, this is a band, like Dirty Honey who have had the same impact with the world’s Aerosmith fans, that are going to be going places in the next few years.
A marvelous start to the show.
Unto Others
Unto Others, my main reason for being at The Forum, are / is (it’s funny how we think collectively of a band as the sum of its members whereas other camps consider the band to be the individual entity – who is right I think often depends on which side of the Atlantic you come from) an American Gothic rock/heavy metal band from Portland, Oregon. Their blend of music gives a modern take on the likes of Sisters of Mercy with a little bit more grit thanks to some fine guitar work and serious production on their album.
Based, as you might expect on the so-called Golden Rule, which states “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, the band have taken that , given it their own take and focus on “treat others as they would treat you”. That seems, in this day and age, more than fair and is something we could all abide by.
The four piece, Gabriel Franco – vocals, rhythm guitar, Sebastian Silva – lead guitar, Brandon Hill – bass and Colin Vranizan – drums don’t sit at odds with what had come before with Satan’s Satyrs or what was to come with Brit outfit Green Lung. Instead their tightly packed set once it began hardly to time to draw breath before they were at the end of their allotted 45 or so minutes. Some might say short is sweet but when booming goth metal is blasting across a crowd of two and a half thousand people to rapturous applause then you know whoever put the bill together knows their audience very well indeed.
Even for those who had only come to se headliners Green Lung, the band caught the mind and ear of casual observers with a well judged cover of Ramones ‘Pet Cemetery’. A canny move that saw the number of people pogoing across the floor of the Forum increase exponentially. Circle pits came and went, windmilling arms flailed in abandonment and what, to the unknowing outsider’ could be construed as chaos on the dancefloor was actually the deliriously happy faces of metal heads having the best time.
Like a lot of artists, Unto Others live is a massively different affair to the band that has three studio albums to date. The intensity demonstrated blew me away and the band definitely favour the metal live compared to the Gothic elements although, the lighting did feel like we were immersed in an old Universal horror movie at times with the options being red or black and white.
Top drawer stuff and one to see as headliners in future.
SETLIST:
Butterfly
Momma Likes the Door Closed
It Doesn’t Really Matter
Jackie
Suicide Today
Raigeki
Can You Hear the Rain
Heroin
Time Goes On
Pet Sematary (Ramones cover)
Give Me to the Night
Dragon, Why Do You Cry?
Green Lung
Late on in the band’s headline set, Green Lung vocalist Tom Templar took time to explain to the crowd about the band’s humble beginnings, looking at the venues that they’d played early on like the Black Heart Tavern ( a personal favourite ) and others noting and using Pete Postlethwaite’s quote from ‘Brassed Off’ to explain how he realised it wasn’t just being in a band that mattered but the audience. To the loudest cheer he shouted:
“Truth is, I THOUGHT it mattered. I thought that MUSIC mattered. But does it bollocks? Not compared to how people matter.”
He then took the time to make a heartfelt thank you to the crowd, those that have been with them since the off, those that have just discovered them but most importantly those that had helped them headline the O2 Forum in front of, as said above, a packed house of nearly two and a half thousand people. Not bad for a band still in their first decade with just three albums behind them. Even more impressively this headline show comes on the back of ‘This Heathen Land’ which came out back in 2023. Proof positive that albums and support do have longevity even in this day and age.
Tom also pointed out that the key thing for those people thinking of forming a band was for them to just “do it”. He’s right. Don’t put to one side that one thing that you might regret and never be able to come back to when ‘life’ gets in the way.
Their performance though was something else to behold. With the advantage of being allowed to shoot from the floor and the balcony as well, it was a pleasure to see so many people invested, word for word, in the band’s set. Take ‘Maxine (Witch Queen)’ for example. As I stood watching from the top balcony, the number of people singing along putting as much effort as the band into their own performance was staggering. These are revelationary shows at times, presenting future festival headliners as they’re on the cusp of greatness and my word.. this was such a night.
There wasn’t a single song that the band and crowd didn’t give it their all and it was easy to see why. Flawless execution, flawless delivery and flawless reception. Roll on the next album and the arena sized shows that can only be just around the corner.
SETLIST:
Woodland Rites
Mountain Throne
Templar Dawn
The Ancient Ways
Reaper’s Scythe
Oceans of Time
Song of the Stones
May Queen
The Forest Church
Hunters in the Sky
Maxine (Witch Queen)
Graveyard Sun
Encore:
The Harrowing
Old Gods
Let the Devil In
One for Sorrow
The tour continues across Europe with dates (at the time of writing) as follows:
28.02.2025 – PT, Lisboa – LAV – Lisboa ao Vivo
01.03.2025 – ES, Madrid – Sala Copernico
02.03.2025 – ES, Barcelona – Razzmatazz 2
04.03.2025 – IT, Milan – Legend Club Milano
05.03.2025 – AT, Vienna – Flex
06.03.2025 – DE, Munich – Backstage
07.03.2025 – DE, Berlin – LIDO
08.03.2025 – DE, Bochum – Matrix
Tickets for all remaining shows can be bought here.
Green Lung’s third studio album “This Heathen Land” is the most complete manifestation of the band’s vision to date, fulfilling their long-held goal to, in the words of vocalist Tom Templar, “create the definitive soundtrack to the folk horror film in our heads”. On “This Heathen Land”, the band have forged a sound and identity that is entirely their own, while maintaining the Sabbathian heaviness and addictive songcraft which made their previous albums so beloved in the metal underground. From the cover art to the vinyl inserts and lyrical themes, “This Heathen Land” is a painstakingly-researched and executed heavy metal love letter to the folkloric landscape of the UK.
“This Heathen Land” was produced by Wayne Adams at Bear Bites Horse Studios and was mixed by Tom Dalgety (Opeth, Clutch, Ghost).
Stream & buy “This Heathen Land” here.
Line-up:
Tom Templar – Vocals
Scott Black – Guitar
Joseph Ghast – Bass
John Wright – Organ
Matt Wiseman – Drums
Weblinks:
greenlung.co.uk
www.facebook.com/greenlungband
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