Orange Goblin – A Eulogy for the Fans (Candlelight)
Monday, 29th April 2013
August 11, 2012 is a day that fans of Orange Goblin will never forget. The hardest working British band stormed the stage at Bloodstock to record a live album and treated their rabid audience to a killer set in the process. The music in question is raw, blistering and proves this band is such a destructive force in the live arena, so what better way than to christen the album A Eulogy for the Fans.
The initial burst of energy starts the set off with “Red Tide Rising” and then follows with the rousing “The Filthy & the Few.” Numbers like this strive for intense riffs, bountiful grooves and gruff vocals to the max, and the crowd just ate this up. The torrid pacing comes down quite a bit with the commencement of “Time Traveling Blues” from their sophomore release in 1998. The heavy rock slides into a bluesy jam suffused with a ton of a soul. At this point vocalist Ben Ward stops to announce to the crowd that his mind has just been blown and judging from the smoldering tones from the song, he isn’t kidding.
The second half of this release continues with cuts from their latest effort A Eulogy for the Damned. “The Fog” and “Acid Trial” are songs that come in the thick of the set and the grit and slightly faster pace of these numbers in a live setting proves to be a real highlight. The number that did it for me was “They Come Back” and as soon as Ward announces to the crowd if they like zombie movies, you know the Goblin is going to play it fast and dirty. I found Ward to be at the top of his game, what with his guttural delivery and hellbent passion in the later moments of the set, proving his mettle as a front man for the band.
A Eulogy for the Fans is a real beast of a live recording. The constant energy never lets up and Orange Goblin has to come to another stage to conquer another crowd, proving their strength in spades.
