Oh how I yearn for the days of my youth when there were no subgenres; metal was metal, punk was punk and everything else was shit. At some point punk kids took onboard the musicality of metal whilst metal kids bought into the punk attitude. Thus bands like Metallica, Anthrax, Agnostic Front, Sick of It All, DRI and Suicidal Tendencies were born.
In the intervening two decades, in the minds of some people at least, heavy music has been distilled to such an extent that a band like A Dark Orbit comes along who are variously described by themselves and their record label bio as hardcore, ambient, trance, progressive and with epic sensibilities. With so many influences thrown into the mix, it has to be said with some trepidation, I was expecting to be taken on an aural rollercoaster of a ride akin to that provided by You and What Army from the West Midlands. With that in mind I don’t know whether I was pleased or disappointed that the reality was somewhat different to the promise?
Considering the number of influences the band cites and despite having some passages that put you in mind of Isis, Neurosis and Mastodon this EP lacks variety. The first three songs all start instantly with furious screamed vocals set against a sledgehammer musical backdrop. This impression is further bolstered by the vocal delivery which remains the same on every song. The only variable being how high or low it is in the mix. It takes until the fourth song before we have something that could be described as an intro and when the inevitable screamed vocal kicks in it isn’t comforting it’s just predictable. The final track must be what passes for ambient on this release but it merely puts me in mind of an extended version of E5150 by Black Sabbath before it kicks into Mob Rules. Its only saving grace is that the screamed vocals are barely a whisper in the mix.
A Dark Orbit are a young band (less than a year old) and this 5 track EP represents their recording debut so there is plenty of time for them to perhaps discard some influences and bring others to the fore in an effort to forge something memorable. But as of right now they merely conform to what we have come to expect from bands on the Basick roster; an incoherent screamed vocal delivery allied to furiously heavy music mostly lacking guitar solos and at times focus.
http://www.myspace.com/adarkorbit
http://www.adarkorbit.com
http://www.myspace.com/basickrecords
http://www.basickrecords.com
