Warlung are a stoner/ doom band from Houston, Texas, with four albums released between 2017 and 2022. Fifth full-length The Poison Touch is coming out after a longer-than-usual three-year gap and offers eight new slabs of power chords, heavy rhythm section and really good guitar solos. These solos are actually what adds much more color to Warlung in comparison to other stoner bands and brings their music closer to classic hard rock and even early NWOBHM.
Opener Digital Smoke is very powerful and dynamic, with something lifted straight off classic Thin Lizzy, while the next song White Light Seeker displays the first super epic solo from George Baba and Philip Bennet. Spell Breaker is a nearly nine-minute doomy Sabbath worship with great attention to melody-crafting and strong, convincing vocals. There are some similarities to what Green Lung are doing in tracks like Rat Bastard, but Warlung always manages to amaze with off-the-hook guitar riffs, psychedelic passages and never allow the songs to tread on one place.
The Sleeping Prophet, as the title hints, is a more laid-back, moody song, with ancient hard rock influences and beautiful guitar harmonies. The album ends way too soon it seems with 29th Scroll, 6th Verse, a song sounding like a cross between old Sabbath and late-era Psychotic Waltz, still bearing the Warlung stamp over. This is a band, which deserves to play in big arenas, even though I bet they feel quite comfortable in small, smoky US bars as well. Their songs and musicianship are too good to remain unnoticed and if you are reading this, check out the previous four albums while waiting for the official release date. This is doomy heavy metal done right, with melodies you will enjoy and remember and after all that matters most.
8/10
The Poison Touch is out on February 14th and can be pre-ordered from HERE
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