We got ourselves a big fat double review coming up right here. If you're wondering why, it's because I told Mondo I would review his black metal album way back when before it dropped, and unfortuantely due to the business of my school schedule and my attempts to keep this thread from dying, I just wasn't able to find the time. However, now I do have the time and he's also recommended another album for me to review, so I figure why not knock them both off at once. Get two birds stoned at once, right Ricky?
First up, we've got this one.
Amanecer en Puerta Oscura by Orthodox
Recommended by Mondo Bungle
Con Sangre de Quien Te Ofenda: I went into this thinking it was going to be a black metal album, but I'm clearly wrong. It's kicking off as a sort of experimental jazzy rock cut. The tags range from folk, doom, drone and experimental. At the very least this should be a unique listen. That upright bass is pretty tight and the drums are more jazz influenced than metal. I'm liking it so far. They lost me somewhere in the middle of that track, but as the guitar fades back in so does my enjoyment. The ending was wild, a total free-jazz freak out. Overall I'd say it was a pretty solid opener.
Mesto, Rigido e Ceremoniale: Oh damn, some crunchy guitar riffing here. We're getting metal up in this bitch. Yo, this sounds doomy as ****. I liked the first track alright but this is way more up my alley. The free-jazz influence from the first track has carried over and it's certainly making the instrumentation stand out far more, although I'm not sure it's always for the best. There are times were they build up these fantastic and very thick and texture passages only to lose all momentum by going all Frownland on their instruments. But I mean hey, that's just my opinion.
Solemne Triduo: More great riffing. Love the drumming on all of the tracks so far as well. This one also has vocals, first track to feature them so far. I would probably say this is my favourite track so far, a little more in the traditional doom field but still with a nice amount of folk influence.
Amanecer en Puerta Oscura: Very folky interlude here. This is very laid back, a nice pretty interlude. This album is so all over the place sometimes I forget what I'm listening to.
Puerta Osario: Huh, weird. Another interlude track. This one just has somebody slamming their dick off of a piano. Not bad I guess, but it doesn't really serve much of a purpose as far as I'm concerned.
Templos: Looks like we're jumping back to another jazzier cut. This one is 15 minutes long, so it'll be interesting to see how it progresses. OMG, this is so ****ing boring dude. I got a little scared at the drone tag, and this track is exactly why. 15 minutes of this just doesn't to much for me. This album was like 50/50 up to this point but this is definitely bringing it down since this makes up like 1/3rd of it in length.
Parte II Apogeum: Yay, we're back to bomb ass doom metal. Cranking this **** up. Totally the best song on the album. If this had been a straight up doom album with some folk influence it would have rocked my socks off, but unfortunately there was all that other **** too. This track is honestly so good it makes me angry that I didn't get the rest of the album. Arguably one of the best doom songs I've heard in a long ass time. Now there's a solo that just keeps going and going but never manages to get old or stale, you know what, **** it I'm starting this track over. Please listen to this everyone.
https://orthodoxband.bandcamp.com/tr...rte-ii-apogeum
Final Verdict: I didn't dislike this album, per say, but there were only two tracks that I cared enough about to actually consider coming back to. It's definitely unique in that it combines so many influences and genres into one cluster**** of music, but it's just not for me my dude. For real though I would highly recommend the last song to literally anyone into doom metal because it is so ****ing gnarly and has some absolutely killer guitar work. Unfortunately all in all the rest of the album just couldn't live up to that track, so it doesn't quite make the cut.
Fail
Stay tuned for the 2nd part of the review (Mondo's album) whenever he decides to leak it.