Following the path blazed by bands like Kyuss and Monster Magnet who emerged from the Grunge scene, Orange Goblin was one of the main bands who kept the bong songs in rotation to help cement the sound we think of today as Stoner Metal.

With Science, Not Fiction (Peaceville Records), they are rocking out with more beef in their tone this time around. The vocals are belted with a grittier growl, though they are upfront in the mix and hung out to dry with little effects on them.

There is more in common with Motorhead here than Black Sabbath; the riffs have a nineties Grunge tinge at times. I used to think of them as more Stoner Rock, but this album insists they are Stoner Metal and draws a pretty clear line in the sand about it.
The burly boogie driving things is effective, though, after the first three songs of it, I think they need to fuck with the dynamics a bit. The sound is big and easily establishes their relevance in 2024.

It will be interesting to see the lyrics to “False Hope Diet” as it contemplates many concepts that in today’s world are called conspiracy theories. If a dope-smoking Rock band is not going to question the status quo and break away from “group think” then who is? This makes for the album’s best lyrical content.

“Cemetary Rats” is the album’s most Metal moment so far as it thrashes out with an almost Pantera-level heft. “The Fury Of A Patient Man” is more straightforward, and back to the raw proto-punk pound of “GEMINI” works off an effective groove.

“The Justice Knife” thunders down the highway with a high-octane charge tempered by a sativa-laced shuffle. Midway into this song, they go off into a jam that sounds like it would be really fun live.

One big takeaway from this album is there are few bells and whistles and it feels like a clear representation of what they would sound like just plugging into their amps and banging it out from a dive bar PA.

“End of Transmission” hits with a heavier hand that paints a sonic picture of heshers trudging through a post-apocalyptic wasteland. “Eye Of The Minotaur” reminds me of Clutch, which does make it stand out from the rest of the songs, though to be fair all of the songs on this album have their own identity. This is something to be appreciated since so many bands just master a sound and crank it out in a rather uniform fashion. That is not the case here.

Each of these songs tells its own story with the needed dynamics to best tell it. This album is a great deal of fun and rocks out harder than you might expect from these guys. They make the difference between Stoner Rock and Stoner Metal known for sure. If you are a fan of the band then this album will give you what you want from them, so smoke ’em if you got ‘em.

Buy the album here:
https://www.orangegoblinofficial.com/

9 / 10
WIL CIFER