ORTHODOX

The name "Orthodox" kind of paint the band into the orthodox music genre. A German death metal band with the same name felt that when I interviewed them ten years ago. Their music never deviated from standard death metal. The same can be said about the Spanish band with the same name too. They are very much in the old style doom metal genre. Think Black Sabbath (the song), St Vitus and Candlemass. Think the whole Hellbound record label and you get this band. If that album had been alive today, Orthodox would had been signed by them.

Then again........ Orthodox spreads their tentacles both towards uber-orthodox doom metal and towards the likes of post rock and avant-garde. In this respect, I would have no hesitation label this band as an avant-garde doom metal band.

The sound on this album is crystal clear and muddy at the same time. We are talking distorted guitars and vocals. Add some Hammond organs to the mix too and we get a very heavy album. No less than heavy as a tonne of bricks. The tempo is syrupy/funeral doom slow though and I guess sludge metal is also a good label. Some of the songs here are really long and all songs have a bit of a cathedral feeling. I was into that type of music back then and this album has rekindled my interest in this genre again.

The quality is very good on an album which brings back good memories from the doom metal era. I am unashamed fan of doom metal so this is an album up my alley. This is also an album I really enjoy so I up the ante here and put it up as an excellent album for those of us into a bit more avant garde music than Journey, Yes and Genesis.

4 stars