Hum...Orange Goblin's Healing Through Fire, eh? About time the band's 6th album was made available at a bigger scale!
Released in 2007, the renowned British Stoner/Doom act's Sanctuary Records debut Healing Through Fire closed a 3-year recording gap for the band. Having spent the whole of their recording career under the auspices of the Rise Above Records label (who not only released the band's previous full-lengths: 1997's Frequencies From Planet Ten, 1998's Time Travelling Blues, 2000's The Big Black, 2002's Coup De Grace, and 2004's Thieving From The House Of God; but also their 1996 debut split EP with Electric Wizard, the 1997 EPs Nuclear Guru and Chrono Naut/ Nuclear Guru, 1998's The Time EP, and the 2000 split with Alabama Thunderpussy), the guys though they made a smart move by signing to the far higher profiled (say major label affiliated) Mayan/ Sanctuary Records, and in stead found out their label unable (or unwilling) to distribute any large numbers of their album and in fact, in recent times the album has been truly difficult to find.
It sure left a sour taste in the band members' mouths, and so when Candlelight Records offered them a deal in 2008, that deal was gladly signed, with a sigh of relief. Still, it would take the Goblins 5 years to come out with a new album under their current label, recordings postponed through “unforeseen circumstances”. In 2010, Rise Above re-issued the band's discography (while signed by them) in digipack format. Eventually OG returned to the studio in August 2011, and since the February 2012 release of A Eulogy For the Damned, which was recorded with Jamie Dodd, the band apparently found a new inspiration for writing songs...as they were reported back in the studio with Dodd earlier this very year. The new album's release is expected to coincide with the full European tour OG will be doin' in October and November of this year!
Getting back however to the Healing Through Fire album... Although a limited amount of the album came with a bonus DVD (featuring a live set recorded at London's The Mean Fiddler on Dec. 16, 2006, plus some interviews and studio footage), very little normal albums eventually ended up in the stores and so, in a way for many fans of the band this may be the first time they're actually capable of getting themselves a copy of the album. Additional to the original track-list, the new album's re-issue (which will be available in both CD and coloured vinyl formats), the fan will find live versions of the album's songs “The Ballad Of Solomon Eagle” and “They Come Back”, as recorded at BBC's infamous London-based Maida Vale studio for the Radio One Rock Show in August 2007.
On hindsight, I cannot say Healing was OG's most original album. I mean, I only have the band's first two full-lengths as a comparison, but I sure wonder what the guys were thinking ripping off music from Led Zeppelin's “Communication Breakdown” in their own track “The Ale House Braves” (which ends in yet another Blues Rock rip-off I cannot quite place). Still, with tracks like “Cities Of Frost” (my personal favourite track on the album) and such live favourites as “Vagrant Stomp”, “They Come Back”, and the album opening “The Ballad Of Solomon Eagle”, the band easily wipes out that little mistake. Stoner/ Doom fans, you now what's good for you, and if this album is still missing from your collection, I can warmly recommend you pick up a copy this time around!