“ Hounds Ditch is where all the animals that died of plague were buried, Mortlake is in West London and where they buried a lot of the dead… But Beginner’s Guide To Suicide was originally just a title I liked that popped into my head. “ The Ballad Of Solomon Eagle is a mad prophet who used to run around with a vat of boiling oil on his head proclaiming the end of the world,” he explains. But album closer Beginner’s Guide to Suicide was closer to the material Orange Goblin had dealt with in the past, hatched from Ben’s imagination. Oftentimes, the songs would be based around real-life characters featured in historical records, or otherwise on incidents and places of significance during the plague. If there was any worry their change in tack would upset their new label however, it was quickly squashed.īuoyed by label support, the band came home from the tour itching to get the last few tracks written around their new concept.
Arriving in the US ahead of a planned tour with Scissorfight, the band went into a Boston studio to demo and record the first track for what would become album opener The Ballad of Solomon Eagle. “It was very damp and rat infested, so it made us feel we were familiar with what London was like during the plague! It was an inspiring place to write, just because it was so dirty and grimy.”Ī brief break from the Big Smoke in May 2006 gave them the chance to start demoing new material. “At the time we were rehearsing in this dingy little archway under a station,” Ben says.
It didn’t hurt that they weren’t over- stretching too much in capturing the squalid conditions of 17th-century London. After that, I started reading books like A Journal Of The Plague Year by Daniel Defoe and all this other literature that helped shape the songs.”ĭiving into history in a way that would do Bruce Dickinson and the boys proud, Orange Goblin set out to make Healing Through Fire as a concept record, but to also ensure the songs could stand strong in their own right. It really struck a chord with me and I thought it had some potential for some heavy metal storytelling. “On one of those walks we went down Monument and Pudding Lane, and the tour guide explained that was where the Great Fire started and it was what brought an end to the bubonic plague. “The whole theme and the lyrics were more aggressive than what we’d done in terms of fantasy lyrics in the past, particularly on the first album, Frequencies From Planet Ten, which was a lot of wizards and dragons you’d hear Dio sing about.” “The vibe of the record lent itself to a more metal edge,” Ben says. While the band weren’t about to throw away their tried-and-tested riff-loaded sound, a decision was made early on to go harder and darker than they had previously. “We were young and hungry so we wanted to impress them with something we hadn’t done before.” “Sanctuary was a label set up by Iron Maiden’s management and they were really supportive of what we were doing,” Orange Goblin vocalist Ben Ward remembers. That year they amicably parted ways with Rise Above, inking a new deal with Sanctuary Records in the hopes it would propel them to new heights. Founded by Cathedral mainman Lee Dorrian in 1988, the label served as a rallying point for the UK’s underground stoner and doom talent, with Orange Goblin and Electric Wizard - formed in 19 respectively - leading the charge.īy 2006, Orange Goblin were a decade and five albums in and had decided they wanted more. The Peaceville Three ( Paradise Lost, Anathema and My Dying Bride) established a beachhead for new British grimness, while independent label Rise Above records blew the doors wide open. But by the mid-90s the tides were changing.
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