Orbit Culture – The Forgotten (EP)
Release Date: 3rd November 2023
Label: Seek and Strike Records
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Genre: Melodic Death Metal, Metalcore, Modern Metal.
FFO: Trivium, Metallica, Architects.
Review By: Trina Julian Edwards
Swedish metal favorites, Orbit Culture, have returned with a new three-song EP, The Forgotten, dedicated to their devoted fans. This digital-only EP releases Friday, December 1 via Seek and Strike Records. The EP features Niklas Karlsson on vocals and guitar, Richard Hansson on guitar, Fredrik Lennartsson on bass, and Christopher Wallerstedt on drums.
According to Karlsson, Sound of The Bell and The Upheaval were written at the same time as their most recent album, Descent. However, the band felt they were a bit too experimental and didn’t fit with the rest of the album. Luckily for us, they decided to release these tracks as a continuation of Descent. With While We Serve to balance it out, The Forgotten was born.
While it may have been the last song written, While We Serve is the first track on the EP. Karlsson notes that this song has a sort of horror movie feel to it, and he’s not wrong. It absolutely has this terrifying build-up in the intro before exploding into a ridiculously fast rhythm overlaid by the splendidly crunchy guitars. Like a landslide, this force of nature sweeps away everything before it. Forgive me while I mix my metaphors, but While We Serve is Orbit Culture running at max speed like some kind of monstrous, well-oiled machine. They’re precise, but they haven’t sacrificed any of their ferocity. The ambient noise in the background with echo-y piano and mysterious vocals is both ethereal and spooky, befitting the mood. Per usual, the vocals are perfect. They’re fierce and compelling, and Karlsson’s control is impeccable. Not even a hint of a clean vocal here.
The tempo drops about halfway through the track, giving you a slight respite from the steamroller, and that creepy, ambient soundscape returns in full effect to remind you why he mentioned horror movies. The intensity slowly builds again, the drums coming back in with all the subtlety of a machine gun, and they just don’t let up until it’s over. I’m definitely getting sort of an old-school Gothenburg vibe, and I’m all for it. It’s one of my favorite tracks of the year, and I can’t stop listening to it.
The Upheaval begins with what I feel are more traditional heavy metal-type riffs, veering into some bluesy territory with that slide, but only just. It’s a lower-tempo intro, but any fan of Orbit Culture knows it doesn’t stay that way for long. They shift gears into a frenetic rhythm and it feels like it just keeps speeding up. Those feral harsh vocals fit the vigorous onslaught of that insane pace, but we’re also graced with what passes for Karlsson’s cleans throughout. It’s almost never squeaky clean, however, and that grit keeps the edge on it. The dynamics are once again superb, as I probably don’t even need to tell you. Orbit Culture is a band that knows how to craft a song. They can be counted on to deliver the speed and the intensity, but they also know when to bring dramatic changes to keep things interesting. This may be the shortest track on the EP, but there’s no doubt it can hold its own.
Sound of the Bell wraps up this short but powerful EP. Karlsson stated that lyrically, this was the most difficult song he’s written to date. He explained that he wanted to speak to the violence that’s constantly in the news while remaining sensitive to those who have experienced it. It has a subdued mid-tempo intro with a more alternative sound in the jangly, echoing guitar leads. No idea why, but it put me in mind of The Cure’s Disintegration era. Regardless, it sets the tone of the track beautifully. The riffs get crunchy per usual, but it’s still somehow slightly somber. The lyrics are painful and heartbreaking, and I got a little choked up when he sang, “If this is the last time I will hold your hand…”
The pace slows around 4:20, and you can shockingly hear actual cleans in the distance. These are also the last vocals you’ll hear, and it’s only about halfway through. The spare guitar tones (with only the barest of accompaniment) drive home the emptiness of grief in the lyrical themes. The pace and fervency start to build again around the six-minute mark with furious drumming and increasingly frantic leads, and then they punch you right in the gut around six and a half minutes, and you realize this has turned into the longest, most epic outro. There’s a kind of helpless fury illustrated here that all of us feel in the face of senseless acts of violence. Very well done, once again proving their mastery when it comes to composition.
Although the EP clocks in at less than twenty minutes, you get your money’s worth. This is all meat and no filler. Their songwriting is consistently top-notch, and a tighter band you’ll be hard-pressed to find. Obviously, I’m a fan, but even so, I continue to be impressed by Orbit Culture. They’re vastly underrated in my humble opinion, and they only get better with each release. If you’re a fan of melodeath, metalcore, or metal in general, I highly recommend checking this out. Then go back and revisit their back catalog if you’re unfamiliar with it. You can thank me later.
(5 / 5)
