As much as heavy metal changes, it stays the same: it’s telling that a band like Green Lung, who wear their Black Sabbath influence proudly for all to see, can still find success in current year, and not undeservedly so. The London-based crew have mastered the core tenants of their genre— massive riffs, anthemic choruses and climactic solos, they have a-plenty— and 2026 sees them pushing those elements further than ever before. ‘Necropolitan’ may not be reinventing the wheel, but the train is certainly on the right track.

This horror-infused adventure isn’t taking any prisoners, even by Green Lung’s own standards. The more progressive moments that overtook much of 2023’s ‘This Heathen Land’— ‘One for Sorrow’ and ‘Song of the Stones,’ in particular— have been scaled back this time around, making for a record as dark as its cover suggests. There’s no getting comfortable when the eery chanting and distant tribal drums of ‘Open the Hellmouth’ are playing, and a good thing too: ‘Dance to the Grave’ comes out swinging with one of the most sinister riffs in the band’s catalogue, the first of many that’ll get you banging your head. For ‘Necropolitan,’ Green Lung have recorded every drum track, bass line and rhythm guitar part live in the studio, and the approach has gifted the album a newfound energy that’s undeniably exciting, right from its opening moments.

So yes, Templar and company are hitting you with old-school doom metal riffs, delivered with an enviable amount of enthusiasm: really, are you surprised? If ‘Necropolitan’ sets itself apart from the formula the band laid down with 2019’s ‘Woodland Rites,’ it’s in its theming— fantasy and folklore remain core points of interest for the group, most definitely, but their fourth studio record carries with it a more menacing edge. The massive slams and gorgeous guitar solo of lead single ‘Evil in this House’ will transport you straight to the bowels of London, utilising hammond organs that are as cheesy as they are bombastic. This is indeed your typical Green Lung affair, just spruced up with a few new bells and whistles: it’s a testament to the legacy of Black Sabbath that these ideas continue to be so enthralling when the right band takes to them.

It does bear mentioning that ‘Necropolitan Line,’ which separates itself from its peers with its raucous classic rock energy and racing tempos, is quite the standout on a tracklist that gets just a little too comfy from time to time— Green Lung are delivering their most direct and impactful release to date, but that doesn’t mean the thrills are non-stop. Fun as they may be, cuts like ‘Black Magick Radio’ and ‘Alostrael (Be My Babylon)’ see the band running through their usual writing devices on autopilot, throwing crunchy guitar riffs and ominous verses at an album already in oversupply on both fronts. Whenever Templar and company launch into a chorus, you know exactly what you’re in for: the group routinely simplify their sound to get you singing along, making for hooks that grind their respective tracks to a halt.

‘Necropolitan’ can be a little been-there-done-that in its weakest passages, but try applying that same criticism to the eery nursery-rhyme-ballad ‘Together in Death’ and you’ll come up short. Green Lung may have trimmed the fat from previous albums, but that still leaves them room to go down weird and wonderful avenues— ‘Ozymandias,’ for instance, sounds like the Iron Maiden epic that Steve Harris never wrote, collecting Percy Shelley quotes and quirky progressive rock phrases together into an out-and-out odyssey of a cut. These songs live and die by the passion of their performances, a quality guitarist Scott Black and keyboard player John Wright have in spades. The way the two sync up to close out the monumental ‘To the Gallows Born’ is an all-time standout moment for Green Lung, a band who sound more primed to take over the metal world now than they ever have before.

If Templar and company have proven anything, it’s that those old-school doom essentials can thrive just about anywhere: from the crummy streets of Birmingham to the winding tunnels of London, heavy metal remains as strong as ever. For Green Lung, this isn’t a reinvention so much as a statement of intent: the five-piece will be coming over your radio waves, and you’d better be prepared when they do. ‘Necropolitan’ is a thoroughly entertaining record, backed by performances and tropes you just can’t argue with. A band this obsessed with death have never sounded so alive.