Orange Goblin - Time Travelling Blues
Rise Above
Stoner Metal
11 songs (54:07)
Release year: 1998
Orange Goblin, Rise Above
Reviewed by Khelek
Archive review

I discovered Orange Goblin not too many months ago and I have to say they really know how to write some great stuff. Their debut album Frequencies From Planet Ten was quite a good debut, displaying the band's knack for writing heavy, catchy songs that have a distinct sound. The second album takes their sound a bit further and with a bit more structure while still paying homage to early doom/stoner acts. The songwriting and technical musicianship has been stepped up a bit as well. While other early genre leaders such as Kyuss, Dozer, and Fu Manchu have done the same types of things, Orange Goblin manages to remain somewhat unique, yet still flow nicely with other stoner/doom metal music.

The first song, Blue Snow, starts with a bouncy drum and bass opening that leads into some heavier riffs that build the sound to a bit faster rhythm. Then the gravelly vocals of singer Ben Ward come in and match the rhythm quite well. The chorus is pretty catchy as well. Finally they throw in some enjoyable guitar solo work and it makes for an enjoyable first track that makes me want to hear more. The next track, Solarisphere begins with a simple electric guitar riffs and rhythmic drums in the background once more. This soon leads into some quicker and louder electric guitar riffs that once again build up into the full song complete with catchy guitar runs and the infectious, dirty vocals of Ward. It can get a bit long, but overall it's another great track. Shine starts out a bit differently with plenty of groove-laden keyboard and goes on to create a sort of mystical, spacey atmosphere with drums, bass, and synthesizers, along with the already mentioned keyboard. The slow, calm atmosphere continues for a while before being shattered by slow, crushing riffs. The length of this song also does not become a problem because it is sort of broken into sections that change the sound to keep you interested.Orange Goblin seem to be just as good at doing the calmer, more spacey/atmospheric stuff as they are at catchy heavy metal. Nuclear Guru is another good example of a song that really creates a deep atmosphere that keeps you hooked for the whole 6 minutes. The title track begins very differently than the rest of the album, starting out with a bluesy, southern rock feeling that is decidedly different from the stoner/hard rock feeling of the album. I'm not sure why the band decided to take this approach, but for me it works, especially when the electric guitars come in to open it up and turns the song back towards stoner rock to close out the album.

Time Travelling Blues is quite varied as you can tell from my descriptions, but the songs also flow nicely together in a cohesive way that is difficult to pull off but these guys manage to do it quite well, and in only their sophomore album. I look forward to listening to more of their material.

Killing Songs :
Blue Snow, Solarishpere, Nuclear Guru, Time Travelling Blues
Khelek quoted 84 / 100
Other albums by Orange Goblin that we have reviewed:
Orange Goblin - A Eulogy For The Damned reviewed by Goat and quoted 80 / 100
Orange Goblin - Healing Through Fire reviewed by Tony and quoted 90 / 100
Orange Goblin - Coup De Grace reviewed by Khelek and quoted 74 / 100
Orange Goblin - The Big Black reviewed by Khelek and quoted 84 / 100
Orange Goblin - Frequencies From Planet Ten reviewed by Khelek and quoted 81 / 100
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