Orange Goblin

With the prospect of a sixth studio album (originally slated for a 2009 release) presently up in the air, Orange Goblin's first label, Rise Above, has remastered every note from their first five albums ― 1997's Frequencies from Planet Ten through 2004's Thieving from the House of God ― and presented them in snazzy digipaks with bonus tracks and an embroidered patch. The 67 tracks span the career of these UK mainstays, from their beginnings in psychedelic stoner groove to their current status as heavy rock merchants. Later tracks ("Quincy the Pigboy," "Rage of Angels," "If It Ain't Broke, Break It," "Round Up the Horses") are more rockingly straightforward than former cuts, which are drenched in wah-wah pedals ("Magic Carpet," "Star Shaped Cloud," "Snail Hook," "Nuclear Guru"). As the green haze of their early material burned off, the band began to embrace a Clutch-like direction, replacing the Electric Wizard meanderings with the Southern grooves of later Corrosion of Conformity. Even better than the punchier production are the exhaustive bonus tracks from every split and compilation on now-defunct labels. Solid covers from Black Sabbath ("Into the Void" and the superior "Hand of Doom," the latter from the long out-of-print 1997 Man's Ruin split), Trouble ("Black Shades of Doom"), Motörhead ("No Class"), the Damned and more sit proudly next to demos and live cuts. New liner notes from band members cast some alcohol-fuelled light on the recording process for each album, giving credence to this very 'eavy, very 'umble group. Thanks to licensing from Metal Blade, Orange Goblin fire the stoner shot heard 'round the world.