London occult doom band Green Lung will release their fourth album, Necropolitan, on 11 September 2026 via Nuclear Blast. Produced by Tom Dalgety at Rockfield Studios, the nine-track record draws inspiration from the capital’s 19th-century cemeteries and the Victorian-era London Necropolis Railway, continuing a decades-long British tradition of folkloric heavy music.
The intersection of heavy metal and traditional folklore has long occupied a unique corner of the British music landscape, uniting occult imagery with the raw power of distorted guitars. Frontman Tom Templar of Green Lung notes that the genre has evolved into a distinct cultural movement.
My big thesis is that heavy metal has become a form of folk music in the past couple of decades.
Tom Templar, singer of Green Lung, via Theguardian
This affinity for older traditions draws heavily upon the natural world and historical mythology rather than standard demonic tropes. Other modern acts, such as Newcastle folk-horror-metallers Druidess, observe a growing public desire to step away from digital screens and reconnect with landscape and lore, according to singer Shonagh Brown.
Inside Green Lung’s Necropolitan and the Tom Dalgety Connection
Green Lung’s upcoming album, Necropolitan arrives 11 September 2026 on Nuclear Blast, following recording sessions held in January 2026. Produced, recorded, and mixed by Tom Dalgety at Rockfield Studios, the nine-track release spans song titles ranging from Open the Hellmouth to To the Gallows Born, alongside pre-release singles such as Evil in This House and Black Magick Radio.
The record draws specific thematic inspiration from the London Necropolis Railway, a Victorian transit line built to transport the deceased out of the overcrowded metropolis, paired with London’s historic 1830s and 1840s cemeteries known as the Magnificent Seven. Producer Tom Dalgety anchors much of this modern theatrical occult heavy sound, having previously helmed notable records for Ghost and Death SS.
Decades of British Horror-Rock Roots
While Green Lung and Druidess shape this current wave of heavy folk horror, the aesthetic builds upon more than half a century of British musical history. Black Sabbath established the foundational heavy sound in Birmingham while taking inspiration from horror cinema, while subsequent decades saw acts like Cathedral and Electric Wizard weave gothic dread and Hammer Horror atmospheres into their doom metal catalogs.
Earlier pioneers laid the groundwork during the early 1980s. Stourbridge outfit Witchfinder General released two albums, including work featuring memorable horror-homage imagery, though guitarist Phil Cope once noted that their deliberate focus on slow, heavy doom initially left them out of step with a music scene chasing fast velocity. Concurrently, south London’s Pagan Altar operated largely in obscurity, recording a collection of mystical songs later gathered on releases like Mythical & Magical.
Local Lore and Arcane Appeal
The mythology surrounding early occult rock bands often amplified their underground status. Pagan Altar built their early studio on a suspected historic execution site in Brockley, south London, feeding local accounts of hauntings and strange theatrical staging.
Being a strange and uncovered relic heightened their appeal, because it felt like you were discovering something arcane.
Nick Ruskell of Kerrang!, via Theguardian
Guitarist Alan Jones, who began playing in bands with his father Terry in 1973, carried forward this family-rooted dedication to occult rock. This deep lineage proves that Britain’s physical landscape—laced with moors, stone circles, and Victorian architecture—naturally supplies the source material for successive generations of riff-driven gothic bands.
