Album Reviews

I was late to Green Lung’s party, only discovering them through 2023’s This Heathen Land. But I immediately took a shine to them. There’s just something about their brand of occult rock that’s a hell of a lot of fun. Think Ghost’s debut album, plenty of Black Sabbath worship, a couple of Spinal Tap moments, and the overarching atmosphere of a 1970s Hammer Horror flick.

With producer Tom Dalgety (Opeth, Ghost) at the helm, Green Lung stripped back their usual multilayered arrangements to capture more of their live energy this time around. What remains are massive riffs, frenzied organ runs, and infectious melodies. "Open the Hellmouth" sets the eerie mood before "Dance to the Grave" drags you in with colossal riffs and demented organ and Mellotron passages firing from all angles. From there, the band never lets up, unleashing standout tracks like "Black Magick Radio" and "Evil in This House". While a touch more variety in the vocal melodies would have been welcome over the course of the album, the hooky delivery still lands. It’s everything Ghost hasn’t been since Infestissumam.

Lyrically, the album takes a turn into dark urban lore. With a title derived from the "Magnificent Seven" Victorian cemeteries surrounding London, Necropolitan captures "the triumph and power of death and nature over the dreams and dominion of humankind." Yet they’re just as likely to drop a track tackling the eerie nexus between far-right politics and tech-feudalism in the face of climate collapse. Less occult, but somehow even scarier.

Ozzy Osbourne may no longer be with us, but it’s comforting to know bands like Green Lung are firmly holding the torch for British heavy metal.

Necropolitan track listing:

1. Open the Hellmouth
2. Dance to the Grave
3. Black Magick Radio
4. Necropolitan Line
5. Evil in this House
6. Together in Death
7. Ozymandias
8. Alostrael (Be My Babalon)
9. To the Gallows Born