Illustrator Richard Wells and animator Joseph Brett provide the animation for GREEN LUNG’s new ‘Ozymandias’ video, shared as a Halloween release. The song appears on the band’s fourth album, Necropolitan, released September 11, 2026 through Nuclear Blast.
Vocalist Tom Templar connects the track’s adaptation of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem with the band’s forthcoming December performances:
“We’re excited to share a new animation from the arcane imaginations of illustrator Richard Wells and animator Joseph Brett as a Halloween treat. ‘Ozymandias’ is one of our favourite songs on this album to play in the practice space, and we can’t wait to play it on tour in December. Adapted from Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem musing on the futility of human empire-building, his words couldn’t be more relevant for today.”
The song’s subject sits within an album concerned with death and nature overcoming human ambition. Necropolitan also draws on London’s folklore, occult history and heavy music scene. Its title comes from the seven Victorian garden cemeteries surrounding the city where GREEN LUNG began.
The band recorded at Rockfield Studios in January 2026 with producer Tom Dalgety, whose credits include Opeth and Ghost. Dalgety handled recording through mixing. Seeking a closer representation of their live sound, GREEN LUNG reduced their usual layered arrangements and recorded much of the album live, retaining the heaviness, Hammond organs and Mellotrons central to their approach. The announcement describes the record as combining the hooks of This Heathen Land with a rawer, heavier sound, and names Black Sabbath, Queen and Judas Priest among the band’s inspirations.
Templar’s plans to bring ‘Ozymandias’ to the stage accompany GREEN LUNG’s European Dance to the Grave Tour MMXXVI. High On Fire appear as special guests, with support from Gnome. Wells, a frequent collaborator with the band, also designed the tour poster. The announcement lists Bristol and Dublin as sold out.
- December 3 — Antwerp, BE — Trix
- December 4 — Frankfurt am Main, DE — Batschkapp
- December 5 — Munich, DE — Backstage
- December 7 — Vienna, AT — Arena
- December 8 — Leipzig, DE — Anker
- December 10 — Hamburg, DE — Große Freiheit 36
- December 11 — Berlin, DE — Astra Kulturhaus
- December 12 — Cologne, DE — Carlswerk Victoria
- December 13 — Tilburg, NL — O13
- December 14 — Paris, FR — Bataclan
- December 16 — London, UK — The Roundhouse
- December 17 — Bristol, UK — Bristol Electric — sold out
- December 18 — Manchester, UK — Manchester Academy
- December 19 — Dublin, IE — The Academy — sold out
- December 20 — Glasgow, UK — SWG3 Galvanizers
- Open the Hellmouth
- Dance to the Grave
- Black Magick Radio
- Necropolitan Line
- Evil in this House
- Together in Death
- Ozymandias
- Alostrael (Be My Babalon)
- To the Gallows Born
GREEN LUNG emerged from London’s heavy rock scene with the self-released Free the Witch EP in 2018. Their music draws on doomy hard rock, pastoral progressive rock, psychedelia and the Hammer Horror theatrics associated with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, while their lyrics explore British folklore, myths and legends.
Their earlier albums are Woodland Rites (2019), Black Harvest (2021) and This Heathen Land (2023). The latter reached No. 1 on the UK’s Official Rock and Metal Album Chart. The band have toured internationally with Clutch, Opeth and Unto Others, and performed at Roadburn and Download.
