Orden Ogan - Gunmen Review

By -


Concise Summary:

Imagine going into a candy shop and trying to eat everything at once. That's a pretty good way to sum up this album. There is a ton of raw talent here; the songwriting is very complex in nature and each song has a wide array of instruments. The singing is also quite impressive and almost all of the choruses on the album sound like an actual chorus is singing. That being said, the production was done very poorly. There have to be a minimum of five tracks going at a given time on the album, and all are boosted to max levels. It's like shoving a delicate flower into a hydraulic press. The individual instruments get lost in noise (although it's very sweet sounding noise) and the sonic diversity of the album is lost. Because of the constant sensory bombardment of hyper-boosted instruments, this hour long album gets very exhausting to listen to close to halfway through. 


Objective Rating:


My Rating: 7

If I didn't listen to the album all the way through and just picked and chose tracks, this album would score sooo much higher. The modern production mentality of "smash it all together to make it real loud" and lack of diversity really ruined what could have been a masterpiece of an album. However, if you just choose a few songs and listen to them, this album sounds great. 

Highlights:

  • Huge, soaring choruses
  • Fast paced songs and surprisingly, a lot of djent
  • Many various instruments
  • Unique story line

Lowlights:

  • Lack of diversity makes for an exhausting album for listening
  • Poor choices in production also add to the sensory exhaustion
  • Each song follows a similar pattern of lead guitar following the vocals, several simultaneous voices in the chorus, and a a base of rhythm and bass guitars constantly pounding; this form is fun and interesting for a while, but it starts to wear quickly.

Favorite Songs:

The Face of Silence - This is a really unique song. The intro with the sounds of a bonfire and crickets chirping makes for a very vivid mental picture. The rest of the song is very good as well.  

Finis Coronat Opus - (the end crowns the work) is probably the best song on the album as far as instrumental diversity goes. A really fun listen. 

More Info:







Comments

  1. A.J. SpaudeOctober 31, 2017 at 11:56 AM

    Follow me on Twitter @BPMetalReviews to stay updated on the latest reviews!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Unguided - And The Battle Royale Review

By -
Image
Concise Summary: The Unguided is a band that has apparently been around for quite awhile, but I just found them today. After listening to their newest album, And The Battle Royale, I think I'll be listening to more of their music in the future! And The Battle Royale has fairly synth-driven songs with both clean and screamed vocals. The style is almost like synth-driven metalcore, which I think is a pretty cool and unique concept. That being said, And The Battle Royale doesn't display much style diversity - most of the album is pretty much only has that metalcore-ish sound. As a result, a lot of the songs sound very similar, making the album seem kind of "flat", if you will; the songs seem to run together. Overall, this is a very good album, and I really enjoyed listening to it, but the style diversity is lacking.  My Rating: 8.5 out of 10 Highlights: Excellent vocals Interesting musical style Enjoyable overall sound and feel to the album...
Read more

Like Moths to Flames - Dark Divine Review

By -
Image
Concise Summary: Well, here's another band that I haven't listened to very much. I've heard of Like Moths to Flames, but haven't explored their music very much. As such, I can't really say if this album is better, worse, or the same as their previous albums. However, what I can say is that I was pretty indifferent to Dark Divine. The first thing that really stood out to me is how little bass is in the mix on the album. I'm not sure if that's the new sound for metalcore, because Phinehas seems to be doing a similar mix on their new album Dark Flag (which I'm definitely going to review on this site). That mix sounded really weird at first, but I got used to it after awhile, and I would say it's definitely not a bad sound. As for the actual music on Dark Divine, I would say I was unimpressed. It definitely wasn't bad, and there are a few spots where it's really good, but I was left feeling like I just ate a piece of bread with nothi...
Read more

Red - Gone Review

By -
Image
Concise Summary: In my opinion, Release the Panic back in 2013 was a style transition album into Of Beauty and Rage, which, in turn, set the tone for Gone. However, I think that Of Beauty and Rage and Gone sound way too similar. Both albums seem to have apocalyptic themes to the lyrics, there's a lot of synth, the drums are electronic, there are really no technical guitar parts, and the singing is generally quiet with a few screams thrown in for some variety. Granted, it's a pretty unique sound, but having Of Beauty and Rage and Gone sound so similar, especially with regard to lyrical themes, is just... boring. In my opinion, each album should tell a different story, but Gone just seems to tell the same story that Of Beauty and Rage told: a vague, apocalyptic, dark, and fairly hopeless story. Because the story is so vague, it's not even like a two-part continuation. Apart from the story (or lack thereof), Gone is probably a better album than Of Beauty and Rage. ...
Read more