Green Lung & Spell, 11st April 2024, Pumpehuset, Copenhagen, Denmark

Photo: Zoran www.sonic-shot.com

Green Lunge’s story is somewhat weird, with the band’s debut album coming out one year before the pandemic paralysed the world, but just in time for the band to seal the deal for their second album with Svart Records. This was announced just weeks before the global lockdown. That made it hard for an-up-and-coming band to uphold the momentum of their debut’s critical acclaim and the new record deal. Green Lunge, however, managed to turn the lockdown to their advantage, not only grabbing hold of the buzz, which surrounded their debut, but also broadening their fanbase in big part thanks to clever activities on social media. They’ve done that without releasing a new album until late 2021.

Fast-forward to 2023 and the band has released their third album This Heathen Land, and at the same time they are moving up the commercial scale by signing with mighty Nuclear Blast Records. And before you know it, the band is out there spending more time on headlining tours than on supporting other bands. That being said, the band has also booked some support gigs for Clutch later this year.

Their gig in Copenhagen has been sold out for a while now. On this leg of the tour, Spirit Adrift was supposed to support the band, but due to personal circumstances they had to pull out and are replaced by Canadian rockers Spell, who’s last two albums were featured high on some of our top-of-the-year lists.

Spell are a rare sight in Europe, but with their hypnotic, dreamy brand of classic rock they seem like a good match for Green Lung and their fans. Not only because of their similarities, but also because of the differences, which seem to complement each other.

The band’s first time ever playing Denmark comes days after they released a brand-new split, A Waxing Moon Over Babylon / Fall to Ruin, together with fellow Canadians, Poltergeist.

As the band took the stage to the notes of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put a Spell On You” a fairly big crowd was in place. Especially taking into the consideration that Spell are virtually unknown in Denmark.

Unfortunately for the band, technical difficulties with vocalist/bassist Cam Mesmer’s monitor, meant that after that fine into, the band couldn’t start their show. Some 10 minutes passed with the band on stage trying to figure out what to do. At the end they changed Mesmer’s monitor and the band ripped into “Fatal Breath” from their latest album Tragic Magic.
Such thing would affect any band, but especially a support band playing for the audience who doesn’t know them, and whom they are supposed to win over. And not only to win them over to check out their music on streaming platforms, but preferably to buy some merchandise and physical copies of their back-catalogue at the venue.

To make things worse, during the first couple of songs, you could hear random music from the venue’s PA-system playing.

The band did their best to keep the show moving, but they were affected by it from the start of the show, as well as the fact that they weren’t getting much reaction out of the audience. This was partially due to issues with the sound, which made it hard for that show opener to translate its flow and energy to the Pumpehuset stage. It also affected the overall experience of apparent live-favourites such as “Ultraviolet” and the title-track from their 2020 masterpiece Opulent Decay. Fortunately, “Dawn Wonderer” worked somewhat better, and the band closed their show with “Watcher of the Seas”, which on a paper might not seem like an obvious closer, but which nevertheless worked extremely well. Spell are unlikely to have made many new fans this evening in Copenhagen, which is a pity taking into the consideration their quality. Hopefully they’ll do better on the remaining of the eight shows supporting Green Lung, and hopefully someone will soon book them for Copenhell Festival, where they can have their revenge on Danish soil.

A big black curtain was placed in front of the stage as it was getting prepared for the main act of the evening, and it stayed on while the intro “Prologue” from Green Lung‘s latest album This Heathen Land played through the PA. Once the band ripped into the opener from the same album “The Forest Church” the curtains opened. A somewhat unorthodox opener, perhaps, but when it was followed relentlessly by “Maxine (Witch Queen)”, “Woodland Rites”, “Mountain Throne” and “Leaders of the Blind”, is actually worked really well. Those songs really got the crowd going and the band easily maintained the massive energy and good sound.

The black curtain might have felt a bit of overkill taking into the consideration that the stage production inspired by British folklore didn’t offer much extraordinary, but the impact of the band starting the show massively as the curtains open shouldn’t be underestimated.

Tom Templar’s vocals were strong from the start, and he maintained that very high vocal performance lever throughout the entire show. There is a heavy dose of professionalism to his performance and stage presence, but at the same there is a massive dose of intensity and energy to it, which gives the show an edge and passion.

Guitarist Scott Black delivered one massive riff after another, as well as countless razor-sharp solos. There is a gorgeous tone to his playing as well as an elegant touch which gives his sound additional layer. There is a certain quality to many one-guitar heavy metal bands, especially if they are accompanied by some cleverly arranged keyboards and one big rhythm section. That was most certainly the case last night as well.

Bassist Joseph Ghast took over the lead vocals on gorgeous “Song of the Stones” with Templar accompanying him as backing vocalist, which was the only time the band seriously dialled down for energy. It worked rather well, especially because it served as a breather after that massive concert opening.

Generally, the band’s focus was on the new album, which meant that they played almost the entire thing. For the most part it worked well, with especially epic “One for Sorrow”, which was the highlight of the evening. Not often can that be said about a new song, if anything because people might not be as familiar with it as they probably are with the older songs. That was not the case with “One for Sorrow”, which was an eruption of beauty, sing-along and crushing riffs.

The band’s energy level and grip on the enthusiastic audience dropped slightly on the likes of “The Ritual Tree” and “Oceans of Time”, but never so much to compromise the overall quality of the show.

After the regular part of the show, the band came back to play a couple of classic and like that, some 85-minute-long show was over. There is professionalism and energy to Green Lung, which gives them a unique feel, even though their music might not be all that unique. And let’s not forget the quality of the material, because without that it would be hard for them to play a show as good as the one they played last night in Copenhagen.

GREEN LUNG SETLIST:

1. Prologue
2. The Forest Church
3. Maxine (Witch Queen)
4. Woodland Rites
5. Mountain Throne
6. Leaders of the Blind
7. Song of the Stones
8. Hunters in the Sky
9. One for Sorrow
10. The Ritual Tree
11. Reaper’s Scythe
12. Old Gods
13. Oceans of Time
    ———————–
14. Let the Devil In
15. Graveyard Sun