In a world gone mad, there are few certainties to cling to. But one thing remains forever unwavering and true: Orange Goblin. Diehard exponents of the noble art of heavy metal since 1995, the London-based quartet have spent the last two decades steadily but surely establishing themselves as one of the UK’s most loved and respected bands. Emerging from the stoner rock explosion of the mid ‘90s, the group led the way for that scene on British shores, kicking off with classic debut album Frequencies From Planet Ten in 1997 and continuing with a steady stream of critically acclaimed albums that boldly and gleefully blurred the lines between stoner, doom, black, crust and southern rock, while always fervently saluting the old school heavy metal flag and the sacred Sabbathian code.

After a four-year wait, The Wolf Bites Back, finds the band at the peak of their powers. If you have blood in your veins, it will be impossible to avoid a sudden rush of heavy metal pride when opener “Sons Of Salem” rips into gear: a turbocharged upgrade for the Orange Goblin formula, it ushers in an album full of diversity and daring but one that is powered by metal, pure and simple. From the insistent, fire-breathing groove of the title track and “Renegade’s” balls-out rampage to the psychedelic fog of “Ghosts Of The Primitives” and “Suicide Division’s” two minutes of snot-spraying Bathory-ized hardcore, The Wolf Bites Back will scratch every conceivable heavy metal itch while simultaneously making most sensible people want to run through a brick wall.

Recorded at Orgone Studios in rural Bedfordshire with esteemed underground guru Jaime ‘Gomez’ Arellano at the controls, the new opus comes adorned with a raw but crystalline sound that has maximized Orange Goblin’s extraordinary eight-legged chemistry. Its rampaging musical contents aside, The Wolf Bites Back is also an album of pitch-black horrors and warped nightmares, as Ben Ward channels his fury and fire through twisted tales of ghouls, witches, warriors and sinister ne’er-do-wells. At the heart of the album, however, lies a sincere and heartfelt frustration at the state of the world and humanity’s resistance to getting our collective shit together. The Wolf Bites Back is a flat-out triumph for a band that refuses to deviate from their stated mission of bring joyous, blood ‘n’ thunder metal to the masses.