We have been waiting for this one for a while, and now it is finally upon us! Green Lung released one of last year’s best albums, and Lowen is threatening to release one of this year’s best albums! This is going to be a night to remember, we think! So, let’s prepare for a journey into occult Albion, but first, a trip to the east…
Lowen
Let’s get one thing right, Lowen are incredible tonight, one of the most exciting acts on the scene right now and rightfully on the Church Road roster. Heavy, exotic and dancing to the beat of their own drum, their new tracks sounding so heavy with Shem Lucas laying down the most punishing riffs this side of Celtic Frost and with the tightest most lively rhythm section we’ve heard in metal music bringing a definitive infectious vibe (I guess Gloria Estefan was right, one day, the rhythm IS gonna get you!), tonight Lowen take you on a voyage to the east via the bowels of hell itself with their tales of good and evil borne out of fables as old as time. It’s a thoroughly intoxicating brew and in Nina Saeidi they have not only one of the most unique voices in modern metal but also one of the most powerful. Nina is every bit a high priestess and every bit as deadly as a cobra. Latest single, ‘Najang Bah Divhayeh Mazandaran’ sounds huge tonight and they leave to stunned cheers after having levelled the Brudenell thoroughly.
Green Lung
The venue has swelled to a capacity I haven’t seen often, and it’s suddenly become a game of sardines. Green Lung hit the stage running with ‘Hunters in the Sky’ and doesn’t stop running, anthems flying left right, and centre ‘Maxine’ gets everyone singing along and when I say everyone, I do mean everyone! Introducing ‘The Ancient Ways’ singer, Tom Templar says that he used to come to the Brudenell Social Club as a student, so this final night of the UK tour is like playing Madison Square Garden to him. The band sound iconic, that’s what this is, classic British metal done the old way, albeit with state-of-the-art equipment, tonight’s sound is beyond perfect, sounding the exactly like last year’s genre classic, This Heathen Land, don’t discount the older tunes either ‘Leaders Of The Blind’ and ‘Ritual Tree’ sounding just as golden.
Green Lung just have classic rock and metal running in their veins and every track can be called a banger in its own right, they are literally that good. Every note is pitch perfect and every reference expertly curated and captured. ‘Mountain Throne’ is as mammoth and mountainous as expected, and as ‘One For Sorrow’ ends their main set on that crushing chorus. Everyone here knows they’ve seen something very special in this cramped sweaty venue tonight and that probably this is the last time we’ll see the band somewhere this intimate. Green Lung of course doesn’t leave it there and returns with ‘The Harrowing into Old Gods’. It’s now time to sign the night off in style so they summon forth the dark one himself for ‘Let the Devil in’, getting Leeds to chant Hail Satan as is customary on a Sunday. Every horn is aloft and as Green Lung bid us farewell with ‘Graveyard Sun’, Father forgive us all, for we have indeed sinned!
Review & Photos By George Miller
Lowen
Green Lung
