The God Of Hellfire is 84 Earth years old and remains a force of nature. It is entirely fitting, then, that Nature is the title of the new Arthur Brown album, a vivid, deeply felt work from an artist who has never gone away, and whose voice still carries the authority of someone speaking from a place beyond fashion, genre or ordinary time.
Arthur Brown – Nature
Release Date: Out Now
Words: Liz Medhurst
It is easy and lazy to reduce Arthur Brown to one song, or a gimmicky image. The truth is that he is the original shock rocker, and a genuine pioneer. The first to use the Bentley Rhythm Ace drum machine, the first to use corpse paint in rock, and hell, the first to actually set his head, and sometimes the venue, on fire. Repeatedly, and well before modern pyrotechnics and health and safety regulations.
His personal life has been as colourful, chaotic and otherworldly as his music. With his operatic, powerful scream, Arthur Brown is absolutely one of the forefathers of Heavy Metal. There would be no Bruce Dickinson without Arthur Brown, a demiurge who has shaped the world we live in and made it all the better.
If you have ever been to an Arthur Brown concert any time in the last nearly sixty years or so, you cannot fail to be moved by the theatrics, the avant-garde showmanship, the multi-sensory, multiple costume change extravaganzas. He is still playing Metal festivals to this day and going down a storm.
Arthur may be tamer these days (no plunging down trapdoors, or ending up completely naked, or getting lowered from a crane), but he still has the ability to utterly enthral. This album is no different.
Nature really does reflect its title, with river, fire and animals all local to Brown’s home in Yorkshire recorded and woven into the album. Working with his friend and producer Isaac McInnis of Crooked Room Studio in York, the album was created with Dan Smith, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and part of the current Crazy World lineup.
The improvised recording sessions go way beyond standard band arrangements, delivering a sonic palette that is rich and organic.
The eight tracks here have a beautiful indefinable quality, being psychedelic, mystical and atmospheric. There are some serious grooves too, tribal and meaningful, and occasionally veering on the disturbing, such as The Source, which feels like being drawn into a ritual.
Always in possession of a beautiful tenor voice, his vocals are still completely on point, and his trademark scream is present and correct too. Just listen to the “Wayyyyyyyyyy” in Open Heart.
Elsewhere, as on With A Tear, he goes for the speak-sung approach, the delivery of a true poet, ramping up the drama.
There is a message on this record for us all, and you really feel that he is speaking arcane truth, which he does with authority, especially on the final track Enough. Nothing to do with religion or dogma. It is beyond that, something much more universal, pure and hopeful.
Ultimately, it is all about love. With lyrics like “But love will hide what you saw with your eyes with a tear,” from With A Tear or “earth’s love is always on show,” on Seven, the message cannot be hidden.
Nature stands as another wonderful chapter in a life spent trying, through chaos, colour, mayhem and music, to make the world that little bit better.
Released on 4 September 2026 via Prophecy Productions, Nature is available as a limited hardcover 48-page 2CD artbook with essays by Arthur Brown and a bonus CD including two exclusive studio tracks, a limited gatefold marbled natural and clear vinyl LP (400 copies), a limited gatefold brown vinyl LP (400 copies), a gatefold black vinyl LP, and a digipak CD.
Natures is available from https://spkr.store/collections/arthur-brown. For all things Arthur Brown, visit www.thegodofhellfire.com.
