November Doom- Green Lung : "Woodland Rites"

This British doom band worships the green that taints their lungs by name alone. They have been getting some buzz, that is only going to be fueled further as their name begins surfacing on end of the year lists. The balance between Sabbath worship and having their won sound is for the most part achieved. The vocals are in more of an Ozzy direction. Some of the riffs take a page from "Masters of  reality" There is a great deal of authority in how they crash down into the riff of "Let the Devil In". The bring other influences to the table here . Most noted would be Deep Purple and Jethro Tull. The Deep Purple being the more obvious of the two. The organ plays a larger role "the Ritual Tree" It turns int oa more grandiose metal jamd that Uriah Heap might have had back in the day.

I told like the fact "Templar Dawn" is darker. The vocals have a more nasal tone that makes me think of Electric Wizard. This song is for sure heavier. The vocals get a little more girt here and there. The guitar harmonies are more of a thing as well. "Call of the Coven' is your typical stoner boogie, it's well done but does not open any new doors for the genre of the band .  What does open more doors is the more blue s based balled  "May Queen". Though I think the last song gives his voice more room to open up and sing  in the way it's arranged. It also has a dynamic range allowing it go into a more classic metal build with the necessary guitar solo to accommodate this. Even then it allows itself to back dwon into the last verse. Lyrically it is also the most interesting as soem of the occult themes earlier in the album seem like they are trying to hard.

It might need mroe time to grow on me. The vocals are stronger in some places than others. I like when they take on more of a creepy "Stonehenge" vibe like they do in the first few songs, but the more blues based side of the band gives them more room to open open and shocase a greater range of dynamics that proves for more interesting song writing. I will give this album a 9. It is one of the better stoner doom albums to come out of the bong smoke so far this year. 

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