ORBIT CULTURE wage a wideranging battle with their demons.
Nija SEEK & STRIKE
Eclectic Swedish metallers forge a thrilling, therapeutic whole AFTER BEING AROUND
for the majority of the last decade, and with a couple of decent albums under their belt, eclectic Swedish metallers Orbit Culture have really dug deep to make their third album the best of their career. Nija was, by all accounts, inspired by vocalist/guitarist Niklas Karlsson’s crippling OCD issues, which makes sense when listening here, as it’s tightly packed and methodically crammed full of almost every strand of metal. It’s almost as if Niklas felt compelled to compartmentalise all of the glory of our beloved genre in a mere 44 minutes.
From the second At The Front explodes to open the album with a catchy death metal-goes-sci-fi riff and Karlsson’s deep, gruesome, growling vocals, your attention is grabbed, and from here on in we are treated to a wickedly inventive and versatile record.
Nija veers from the warped speed thrash of Open
Eye, to the staccato groove stomp of North Star Of Nij,
through the dual-guitar, classic metal gallop of Behold to Nensha’s tech death rhythmic battering. These myriad influences are all well and good, but this kind of magpie approach will only really work as an entire album if constructed into a coherent piece, rather than the scattergun, playlist style approach of many modern artists, and the most impressive thing about Nija is the way in which Orbit Culture have never compromised when it comes to making the album feel like a genuinely personal journey.
You can pick out endless influences if you wish but, whether it is power metal or industrial, the personality of Orbit Culture always shines through, which is no mean feat in an increasingly crowded musical landscape. Nija is a great, mongrel metal album, no matter your persuasion – surely any fan of heavy music will find something to excite them here.
■■■■■■■■■■
FOR FANS OF: Gojira, Revocation, Rivers Of Nihil
STEPHEN HILL