It’s a crisp, sunny Sunday morning in Albion. Round us, fields stretch so far as the attention can see, whereas the clear blue sky above us is offset by a bracing wind. The bucolic nook of Wiltshire through which we’re standing is the embodiment of 18th-century artist and mystic William Blake’s imaginative and prescient of England as some sort of “inexperienced and nice land”. Birds wheel within the air lots of of ft up, and it’s simple to think about the sound of the ft which have walked these paths over the millennia.
But one thing extra arcane and unsettling is woven into the pure magnificence. Looming over us is a wierd, putting association of stones, every greater than twice the peak of an individual: two vertical, one balanced precariously on prime of it. That is The Satan’s Den, and the stones are stated to be a dolmen, a neolithic burial chamber that supposedly dates again greater than 5,000 years. If its age and bodily presence are spectacular, they’ve obtained nothing on the reputed supernatural properties that give The Satan’s Den its title. “You recognize,” says Tom Templar, frontman of Inexperienced Lung and British folklore fanatic, “they are saying that should you put a glass of water on one of many stones and go away it in a single day, the Satan will drink it.” Immediately, the wind feels a little bit bit chillier.
If ever a band may moonlight as guides to Bizarre Britain, it’s Inexperienced Lung. The Londoners fuse melodic doom metal with a deep-rooted curiosity within the historic and the arcane. Not for nothing is their new album, the majestic This Heathen Land (voted quantity eight in Hammer’s 50 Greatest Albums of 2023), subtitled ‘A Journey Into Occult Albion’. The Satan’s Den itself even seems on the album’s inside cowl. “It’s the connoisseur’s selection of neolithic stone buildings,” says Tom admiringly.
We’re not simply lurking close to a huge pile of rocks in the course of Wiltshire right this moment for the hell of it. No, we’ve enlisted the band – Tom plus guitarist Scott Black, bassist Joseph Ghast, drummer Matt Wiseman and organist John Wright – to offer us a tour of a few of the standing stones, barrows and henges that impressed the 9 songs that make up This Heathen Land. “I feel it’s rising up in rural Norfolk,” Tom says of his fascination with British folklore and the traditional monuments related to it. “I grew up in some of the distant components of the UK. After I was a child, my obsession was rifling by the forest for mushrooms. Then entering into my teenagers, I gravitated towards witchcraft and folklore. I’d all the time been within the supernatural and ghosts and had a little bit of a gothic facet, and then you definitely realise there’s this music that could be a dwelling for lots of that stuff.”
This curiosity within the topic quickly discovered a soundtrack, with Tom graduating from Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper to black metallic, doom and past. Inexperienced Lung have been shaped in 2017 with the intention of marrying Tom’s two pursuits into one occult-metal entire. “One of many issues I hope makes Inexperienced Lung stand out is that we’re extra impressed by books,” he says. “We’re exploring a literary world.” We’re not simply speaking previous Dennis Wheatley-style horror novels right here. One of many most important inspirations for This Heathen Land is Folklore Myths And Legends Of Britain, a Reader’s Digest guide printed in 1977 (it at the moment fetches eye-watering sums on eBay).
“Outdated reference books, previous guides to folklore, previous guides to bizarre England, haunted buildings, actual tales,” says Tom, itemizing the opposite influences on the album. “It’s extra thrilling to me than doing one other music about The Lord Of The Rings or one thing. I’m discovering one thing creepy, perhaps one line, and making a complete music from it. It’s the alternative of, say, Mastodon doing an album primarily based on Moby Dick.”
By his personal admission, Tom is the driving pressure behind the band’s give attention to all issues esoteric. He jokes that the remainder of Inexperienced Lung have been dragged into his love of standing stones and witchcraft by way of the sheer energy of his obsession. “We’re all actually invested in studying about tradition,” says Scott Black as we stomp away from The Satan’s Den. “There’s some stunning, unbelievable experiences we’ve had as a band entering into this, exploring nature and all of that stuff. I adore it.”
We leap within the automotive to make the quick journey from The Satan’s Den to West Kennett Lengthy Barrow, a neolithic tomb close to the village of Avebury. Tom is worked up about this web site. “I’ve by no means truly been right here earlier than!” he says enthusiastically as he marches off forward of us. For anybody who hasn’t spent their weekend wandering up and down the nation large stones, it’s price unpacking a few of the terminology right here. A protracted barrow is a sort of lined assemble that was used as a tomb. A henge is a round earthen enclosure with a financial institution on the skin and a ditch on the within, some that includes interior rings of stone or wood buildings. Then there are monoliths and megaliths (the previous are stones that stand alone, whereas the latter are giant stones and particularly those who kind a part of a much bigger advanced). ‘Neolithic’ means one thing dates from the Stone Age, which was 5,500-4,000 years in the past, which isn’t to be confused with the Bronze Age, which was an insignificant 4,000-2,800 years in the past. Obtained it? There’ll be a take a look at later.
Sadly, the keenness at seeing the West Kennett Lengthy Barrow rapidly turns to disappointment. The panorama and historical past of this nation could also be spectacular and awe-inspiring, however the climate generally is a bastard. A heavy downpour final evening has turned the trail as much as the barrow right into a reservoir. Solely Hammer photographer Tina had the forethought to convey wellies. The remainder of us are shod in inappropriate footwear. To cap it off, it’s simply began raining. To Tom’s clear annoyance, we aren’t getting up that hill. Nor will we make one other deliberate stop-off, the 30-metre human-made chalk mound Silbury Hill, which is equally soggy. “We stated we wished to go cocktail tasting in Malibu,” says bassist Joe. “Don’t blame us!”
As we put together to trudge again right down to the automotive, Tom spots a chunk of propaganda from a nationalist countryside organisation on one of many indicators main us again to the highway. “That’s going,” he says as he rips the sticker from the signal. “Fucking fascist propaganda.” It seems this sort of factor is pretty widespread. “It’s, and it’s bullshit,” Tom says, shaking his head. “We’re a British band and we need to have fun that. Individuals prefer it as a result of it’s recent, it’s no more Odin and Thor. However these individuals…I come at it from the exact opposite angle to them, after we had widespread land,
traditions that weren’t formed by the monarchy or Christianity, folks stuff from working-class individuals down the centuries. A lot of that stuff is deeply anti-nationalist.”
Inexperienced Lung’s emotions are made clear by a patch they promote on their web site and at gigs. It reads ‘Nazi Occultists Fuck Off’ – a play on the Useless Kennedys music Nazi Punks Fuck Off, famously lined by Napalm Death. “The rationale we did it’s to say that you are able to do this with out it being quasi-fascist,” says Tom. “As a result of it has been hijacked. It’s a real threat.”
Nationalist crap disposed of, we head in direction of Avebury itself. This small, picturesque village is dwelling to the largest stone henge within the UK. A big outer circle surrounds the homes, with two smaller circles contained inside it. With its automotive park, Nationwide Belief present store and cafeteria primarily based in what appears to be like like an previous granary, Avebury is way busier than the areas we visited earlier. Vacationers and households strolling their canines wander between and round these large megaliths. It appears to be like wonderful, however what was the needs of the stones?
“Nobody actually is aware of,” says Tom. “There’s loads of theories, although. What I do know is that the place they’re positioned denotes their gender. So, the oblong ones are fairly phallic, they’re male, and the diamond ones appear like…” “Fannies?” says Joe, earlier than including, embarrassed: “Please don’t have me saying ‘fannies’ in Steel Hammer.”
Inexperienced Lung themselves are inflicting a little bit of stir among the many sightseers, who’re clearly questioning why these 5 dapper males are being photographed stroking the stones. The sheep roaming round don’t appear bothered, however that’s sheep for you. MHR384.greenlung.indd
“I lastly really feel like an enormous deal,” grins organist John Wright, as a household wonders in the event that they recognise who’s garnering a lot consideration. “If solely they knew!” he provides with a smile. Inexperienced Lung themselves aren’t above appearing like vacationers as they hit the Avebury present store. They decide up numerous candles, crystals, books on Britain’s Mesolithic interval and, in Joe’s case, some old-school cola cubes within the candy part. However Neolithic stones look forward to no band, and it’s time to depart Avebury for the ultimate vacation spot on our whistle-stop tour of historic Britain’s monuments. We have to get a transfer on, partly as a result of we’ll be dropping gentle and partly as a result of Tom has promised us a roast dinner at a neighborhood pub known as… oh bollocks, Hammer has simply stepped in an enormous pile of sheep shit. Joe appears to be like sympathetic. “It’s the most effective sort of poo to step in,” he says enigmatically, then carries on strolling, leaving Hammer to surprise simply why that is perhaps the case.
After we arrive on the automotive park of the aptly named The Druid’s Arms pub just a few miles south of Bristol, nightfall is starting to set in. We stroll swiftly to our ultimate stop-off, the close by Stanton Drew circle. It’s situated in a discipline owned by a neighborhood farmer, who lets the general public mingle along with his grazing cows amongst its 27 stones for a price of £1 (the general public pays a quid, not the cows, clearly).
Dodging cowpats – we’ve realized our lesson on that entrance right this moment – we step contained in the 113-metre-diameter circle. It was thought to have been constructed as a ritual web site greater than 4,000 years in the past. At this time, with the solar happening behind the stones and the silhouette of a church seen within the gloaming, it appears like we’re weirdly disconnected from actual time. If a gaggle of druids rocked up behind us, nobody would bat an eyelid. And talking of druids, it’s time to hit The Druid’s Arms for a well-earned pint and a superb old school Sunday roast. As we troop into the cramped, cosy boozer, the eyes of the locals swivel as one in our course.
“I really like this pub, it’s obtained an actual Slaughtered Lamb sort of vibe to it,” says Tom. He’s not incorrect. The one distinction between the distant inn from 1981 horror traditional An American Werewolf In London he’s referring to and The Druid’s Arms is the wall-mounted flatscreen TV exhibiting Luton City vs Liverpool on Sky Sports activities. Nonetheless, the barman is pleasant sufficient, though he does inform us that the roast dinner we’ve been ready for all day isn’t going to occur because the kitchen has simply closed.
As a substitute, we cool down for a hearty meal of a pint of lager and a bag of cheese and onion crisps. It’s been a memorable and enlightening day, even when Hammer may have performed with a bit much less sheep shit on our footwear. For Inexperienced Lung, and Tom particularly, these historic websites are all a part of the nation’s heritage, and ought to be celebrated as such.
“All the pieces now has been subsumed right into a class,” he says. “Finally what we’re obsessed with is neighborhood. We’re a rustic that has seasons, we now have traditions that occur inside these seasons, so it’s neighborhood and nature. Increasingly, individuals are gravitating again towards wanting a reference to nature. And it’s about discovering some sort of utopian imaginative and prescient by tradition, and thru counterculture.” We’ll drink to that. And perhaps the satan will, too.
This Heathen Land is out now by way of Nuclear Blast. This characteristic was initially printed in Steel Hammer #384