Artist: Ordo Obsidium
Title: Orbis Tertius
Type: Album
Label: Eisenwald

Right, I’ll get to the point straight away here – this really, REALLY wants to be a second Weakling album. Recorded at the same studio, replete with the same lengthy songs, rolling blasts, desperate vocals and sinewy compositions, it is an absolute dead ringer for Weakling’s one-and-only album from 2001, ‘Dead as Dreams’. If you’re of the opinion that Wolves in the Throne Room occasionally sail a little too close to the Weakling wind then Ordo Obsidium have marched unflinchingly into Hurricane Homage. It’s not necessarily a bad thing and indeed, given that this project is (admirably) shrouded in secrecy, it may well be that Weakling members are involved in this. However, my doubts about such involvement are pretty firm insofar as that as much as ‘Dead as Dreams’ has clearly been scrutinised with a microscope in an effort to replicate its epic otherworldiness, Orbis Tertius is quite simply nowhere near as good.

It all starts promisingly with ‘Nequaquam Vacuum’, the 6/8 blast pattern, churning guitars and howling voice sweeping the listener away into a whirlwind of searing aggression. It isn’t long though until the flaws with this album begin to manifest themselves. And the primary flaw is thus - beneath the façade of occult aggression and knotty, introspective song structures, there’s a real sense of laziness to some of the compositional work here. It’s clear to me that Ordo Obsidium have focussed so uncompromisingly on replicating an ambience here that they have jettisoned any real sense of quality control in the riff department. One of the greatest offenders is the frankly appalling melody line underpinning ‘Emptiness Under the Moon’ – this should not have left the fretboard, let alone been incorporated in any material deemed release-worthy. That it crops up again and again over the song’s 7-8 minute duration is unforgivable. Elsewhere, the Agalloch-sounding meander of ‘By His Unflinching Hand’ brings a welcome change of pace but again, feels lazily composed, the chiming melodies not hitting with anywhere near as much impact as they should. And again, it seriously outstays its welcome.

It’s all a bit of a shame and a missed opportunity really as many of the ingredients to create an exhilarating ride are in place. After repeated listens, one can’t help but feel there’s something of a ‘style over substance’ issue with Orbis Tertius. Of course, if it turns out that ex-Weakling members are involved with this then fair play to them for picking up the baton nearly a decade later. Whichever way you look at it though, this is a carefully-constructed homage that I’m sad to say, doesn’t quite hit the spot. More of a weakling than the Weakling if you’ll excuse the hideous/obvious pun.

Frank Allain

MTUK HOME