Orden Ogan introduces us to its own vision of the future with Final Days.
Created in Germany by Sebastian « Seeb » Levermann (vocals/keyboards and guitar until 2019), the band releases its first album in 2004, then slowly grows. About the line-up, Niels Löffler (bass until 2019 then guitar, ex-Stormblade, ex-Sardonic), Dirk Meyer-Berhorn (drums, Akanoid), Steven Wussow (bass, Xandria, ex-Shylock) and Patrick Sperling (guitar, Earacle) walk with the leader for this seventh album.
While starting this album, you must be ready to headbang. We begin with the catchy and futuristic Heart Of The Android, a heavy song full of cybernetic effects that perfectly fit the title’s theme. Epic leads are not far, like on In The Dawn Of The AI. The track is intense, and lets the vocalist offer all his voice’s strength over a very motivating rhythmic, that sometimes lets place to a federative chorus, or even cybernetic breaks (who said modem?). While we thought dark sonorities are back, Inferno strikes with this dancing rhythmic, that will probably be one of the next band’s hymns on stage, with this break easy to sing, then Let the Fire Rain is next. The song is softer but as heady as effective, confirming that Orden Ogan deftly handles riffs. On Interstellar, the band invites Gus G. (Firewind, ex-Ozzy Osbourne) on lead guitar, while offering one of the most cheerful rhythmic and a chorus that we already want to sing along.
New collaboration with Ylva Eriksson (Brothers of Metal) on Alone In The Dark, offering an incredible melancholy to walk with this intense duo, as well as an epic rhythmic worth the biggest movies, then the band continues with the heavy Black Hole. Once again, some modern samples accompany this effective rhythmic, letting guitarists placing piercing harmonics, as well as an appropriated solo for this album’s universe, then Absolution For Our Final Days begins. If you do not know how to motivate a crowd during a live show, just look at this song. An intimist introduction, followed by an explosive rhythmic and lyrics that only call for the crowd’s participation. Hollow is next while striking with a new fix of modernity and catchy sounds, while the end of the album already comes with It Is Over, the last composition. The song is weighing and quite dissonant, but it allows the band to let an excellent last impression while giving away epic parts, before a frightening sample.
Orden Ogan plays with big guns now. Final Days is their most accomplished album to date, and it is incredibly effective. Even if they’re linked to a futuristic universe, each song has its own identity and its own assets to hook us.
95/100