| CD REVIEW Orghia |
 |
|
Band : Orghia This Firenze based Italian act started life in early 2006 when 5 lifelong friends (all with previous live and even studio experiences) decided to get together to mix the power of oldschool Thrash Metal with the fast and aggressive attitude of early Swedish Death Metal alà At The Gates. Thanks to the guys earlier involvements in a variety of other Italian bands, it wasn't long before they had put together a couple of songs, and in the Summer of 2006 they were already sirtting in a studio to record their 4-track EP Waiting For The Dusk, which got them rather favourable reviews in Italian webzines and magazines, and even got quite a feedback from the ensuing gigs they did in promotion of the EP. In the Summer of 2007, the guys were already back in the studio to record the 11 tracks of their full-length debut at the Head Studio in Prato (only some 20 kms from their hometown), which they then sent over to Klas Ideberg (guitarist of Darkane, Terror2000 and The Defaced) for productional touch and mixing at Not Quite Studio in Helsinborg (Sweden) done in August. Soon after copies were sent out to just about every label in Europe...bass player Lorenso "Tox" feft the band for personal reasons. In late January of this year only, lead singer Gabriele "Chucky", guitarists Gionata "Screamer" (whom I suspect also brings the screamed vocals) & Giancarlo "ZioMantas", plus drummer Valeriano "Animal" were able to find a replacement in Giancarlo "AngHell". Initially the band got no response to the sending out of their album, but then they got news that a song (it turned out to be "Ultimatum")was to be aired on Bruce Dickinson's Friday Rock Show...and that possibly got the ball rolling, because a distribution deal was finally gotten with the people from Casket/ Copro. That, or the deal came first, with the label's sending of the band's album to Bruce as a result? Now, I'm not sure, but when I look at the song titles, I get this idea that the album is really somewhat conceptual because of something like a red thread going through the sequence of song titles. Let's see if you get it too: "Hostage Of Fate" (which comes introduced by a short intro with a spoken word bit overlaid with the sound of fierce wind and an helicopter flying over), "Apocalypse Tomorrow", "Hellcome Back", "Ultimatum", "Final Flash", "The Dusk" (short and calm, acoustic instrumental), "From The Ashes", "Door To Nowhere", "First Light", and "A Pale Sunrise". Musically (as already mentioned above), the band plays a mixture of early Swedish Death Metal (and the band holds At The Gates as their main influence in that area, meaning a very nice Heavy Metal with somewhat Progressive build-up and a pace which is mostly quite up there, but allowing for sudden breaks and short pace changes) with a touch of oldschool Thrash, and with dual vocals: a deep growl on the one end, and screamed (almost Black) on the other...and obviously brought by twó singers, as they frequently overlap each other! In spite of the band's main influence, they occasionally take back on the pace, as prooven by the overal calmer and more atmospherically played "Hellcome Back", and the short acoustic instrumental title track. Take a whiff of the band's material by surfing to myspace.com/orghia, where the band posted four of their heavier songs on the album. There's also an almost 17-minute video of the band's interview at Italian radio station RadioGas. Regretfully, the whole thing is in the guys' native language, of course (personally I don't mind so much as I dó understand sóme Italian, but not enough to completely understand everything that's said on a first listen), but you also get a couple of short musical interludes (interludes during which Screamer and Chucky go completely nuts), and part of the video is commented on by the singer. End conclusion: not a bad album at all...no year-list material yet, but very divertising indeed...and God know I simply nééd a certain degree of diversity in order to continue this crazy job as music journalist! 86/100 Tony. |