2023-08-18 07:00:15
(c) Orbit Culture
Joint tours with In Flames and Trivium as well as acclaimed gigs on the biggest festival stages in the metal world speak a clear language: Orbit Culture are on the go. Three years ago, “Nija” welcomed the modern, wild, unpredictable, yet anthemic album-length mix somewhere between thrash, death, melodic, prog and heaviness. Familiar and yet completely individual, this is how the four Swedes do their thing. With „Descent“ they should finally convince even the last doubters.
The furious, epic “From The Inside” showcases the true class of the Northern Lights while showing that there’s definitely no room for playing it safe. The rough, frontal force of this undertaking, accompanied by hymn-like melodies and a larger-than-life chorus, which rises from the growl thicket with fine clear vocals, leaves nothing to be desired. Melodic Death qualities come through here, then core and djent riffs, before proggy, classic metal sounds get involved and finally dissect everything in the finish with tortured catchiness … only to be finally dissected by a technically adept, absolutely compact appendix.
Not every track reaches such outstanding dimensions, but that doesn’t bother at all. The title track “Descent”, for example, is a modern, undercooled hateful Death Thrash chunk with small groove inserts, incredibly bold and destructive. A few doors down, “Black Mountain” uses a washed-out thrash riff as the launchpad for an epic-dark anthem as deadly as it is playful. The next powerful chorus seeks the connection between old and new metal school, skilfully surrounded by raw emotionality. The initially somewhat quieter tones of “The Aisle Of Fire” are also strong, making room for incredibly massive walls of sound once more and once more. And yes, well dosed catchiness comes through at the right moment.
Orbit Culture push all controls to the highest heights and fire from all creative cylinders. The ingredients may seem familiar, but the composition is beyond any doubt: “Descent” is metallically mass-compatible without even being remotely mass-compatible. There’s something for pretty much every taste here – from brute force to technical and progressive standards to larger-than-life anthems. And yet forced catchiness is dispensed with, the mixture proves to be complex and extreme. This golden mean, which certainly allows comparisons with the former tour partners, is crowned by excellent songwriting. By now, at the latest, all doors should be wide open for Orbit Culture.
Rating: 9/10
Available from: 08/18/2023
Available from: Seek & Strike (Membrane)
Facebook: www.facebook.com/OrbitCulture
Slider-Pic (c) Orbit Culture
Category: Magazin, Reviews
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