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Orbeth - The Way review




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Band: Orbeth
Album: The Way
Release date: February 2012


01. Ebb And Flow
02. Home
03. Lost Yet Connected
04. The Whisper In The Wind
05. Orbethian Queen
06. Time Hole Closing
07. Fire Dream
08. Path To Abaddon
09. Meus Universum............Meus

Orbeth is the baby of Ben "Bijimitsu" White, formerly of Mithras. He plays all instruments and writes the music for this spacey, atmospheric progressive metal band. With a tag like that, are you as excited as I am?

The first track seems like a nice, cool intro with some spooky, spoken male vocals. I don't love spoken vocals but whatever, I'm ready for this to unleash! The second track gets going, no unleashing, and MORE SPOKEN WORD. Oh, dear. Is the whole album going to be like this?

Yes, it is, but a few songs later I get over it and begin to understand their groove. If you have reservations about spoken word then relax, you'll get over it, too. The vocals flow between spoken and darkly whispered, never rising above a mezzo forte despite the music sometimes charging ahead into a whole range of dynamics. This saves it, and after a while the vocals start to make more sense as a vital element of this specific atmosphere which is mystic, cloudy, and menacing.

Maybe because so many bands use spoken passages as intros preceding something explosive, I kept expecting Orbeth to break loose into something bigger during the first few songs. In the beginning the music seems to be hinting towards some fiery climaxes that never fully materialize. But stick with it, and you'll see how it all fits in the bigger picture.

Sometimes the mood of a song felt stunted, held back (musically and vocally), and other times the pensiveness works in its favor, like in "Path To Abaddon" where the vocals are forcibly whispering about hell while the guitar is madly soloing above. Delightfully unsettling.

The production is very hazy but there is no doubt that the music is great stuff. The drumming can get downright maniacal, and the guitar solos are darkly dreamy and epic. It doesn't always build when I want it to, but I seem to enjoy it more and more with each listen. The jury's still out for me; now you go listen and see what happens.





Written on 13.02.2012 by Susan appreciates quality metal regardless of sub-genre. Metal Storm Staff since 2006.

Twitter: @HeavyMetalSusan


Comments

Comments: 19   Visited by: 193 users
13.02.2012 - 15:04
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted
Well I initially clicked on this because of the horrendous cover art but then I spotted the word Mithras and that intrigued me. I've always liked Mithras' spacey, atmospheric sections and going by the one song I've heard (Lost Yet Connected) it sounds interesting. Probably not the sort of thing I'd usually go for mind. The spoken words are kinda rubbish really. Would have probably been better to leave it instrumental or something as the music is quite nice.

But I agree, the whispered vocals constantly sound like a build-up that never realises itself. (afer listening to a couple of tracks now)
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13.02.2012 - 15:22
Milena
gloom cookie
Spacey, atmospheric progressive metal band? The drumming can get downright maniacal, and the guitar solos are darkly dreamy and epic? My, I'm excited to hear this.

About the build-up that never realizes itself... my whole life is like that so I don't think I'll have a problem with it
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7.0 means the album is good
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13.02.2012 - 15:38
Rating: 8
Ag Fox
Angel No More
Listened to lost yet connected. awesome.
thanks for reviewing this. The mentioning of Mithras caught my eye haha
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loves 小巫
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13.02.2012 - 16:27
BloodTears
ANA-thema
Very good description of the album, made me want to listen to it!
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Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29

Like you could kiss my ass.


My Instagram
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13.02.2012 - 16:36
Susan
Smeghead
Written by Guest on 13.02.2012 at 15:04

\Would have probably been better to leave it instrumental or something as the music is quite nice.

But I agree, the whispered vocals constantly sound like a build-up that never realises itself.


About the build-ups - YES! It was very frustrating at first, and for a while actually. Once I stopped expecting the explosion and satisfaction then I started enjoying the music more, taking it for what it is and not what I wanted it to be. But still, I really wanted it to be shaped differently.

And I thought about saying it'd be better as an instrumental but I'm not sure. At least the vocals wouldn't be hinting at non-existent build-ups, but the production is so hazy I feel like the lack of vocals may have left a hole. Who knows... this is a tricky one.
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"A life all mine
Is what I choose
At the end of my days"
--The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
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13.02.2012 - 18:56
INÆRIS

Way to use the same font as Cynic! Geez.
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Still Life, Still Death
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13.02.2012 - 19:22
Edmund Fogg

The cover made me think of the Terminator between 2 time travels ( I know he's supposed to be naked, but it's the impression I got). As for the music. I'm still uncertain. It's really good background music for reading, but It's not something I would dedicate a full listen to.
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You cannot sedate all the things you hate - MM
The Observer is the source of reality - Bloom
God damn it!! What did Diddy didn't do? - Satan
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13.02.2012 - 19:39
Unhealer
Eclecticist
The cover, the song titles and your review reminded me of the article about Progressive Rock on cracked.com

I'll chech this out
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13.02.2012 - 20:25
King Bonzo

Listened on youtube. Kinda wish this was a instrumental band like Mastery
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13.02.2012 - 21:46
Cryzpin

This is definitely not my kind of music but i do like the review very much!
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13.02.2012 - 21:54
Boxcar Willy
yr a kook
Written by Cryzpin on 13.02.2012 at 21:46

This is definitely not my kind of music but i do like the review very much!

^This.
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14:22 - Marcel Hubregtse
I do your mum

DESTROY DRUM TRIGGERS
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13.02.2012 - 23:25
Susan
Smeghead
Aww, thanks guys.
----
"A life all mine
Is what I choose
At the end of my days"
--The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
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13.02.2012 - 23:45
Milena
gloom cookie
Written by Susan on 13.02.2012 at 23:25

Aww, thanks guys.

See? You should totally review occasionally, the extreme metal boys are going wild in our review section I'll try to do some flooding of my own though
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7.0 means the album is good
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13.02.2012 - 23:53
X-Ray Rod
Skandino
Came here because of the "so awful it's funny" artwork, the Mithras comment and the review... Good review but the music is just meh at best.
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Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29
Like you could kiss my ass
Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
Rod, let me love you.
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14.02.2012 - 01:16
Susan
Smeghead
Written by Milena on 13.02.2012 at 23:45

Written by Susan on 13.02.2012 at 23:25

Aww, thanks guys.

See? You should totally review occasionally, the extreme metal boys are going wild in our review section I'll try to do some flooding of my own though


Silly girl, I DO review occassionally
----
"A life all mine
Is what I choose
At the end of my days"
--The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
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14.02.2012 - 02:05
Rulatore

I liked the instrumental, but the spoken word isnt for me

ps: also caught by the Mithras mention
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14.02.2012 - 03:36
Milena
gloom cookie
Written by Susan on 14.02.2012 at 01:16

Silly girl, I DO review occassionally

But MORE. When you're not tired of making sense in other people's sentences ofc.
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7.0 means the album is good
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14.02.2012 - 04:20
R'Vannith
ghedengi
I smell a concept album, should be interesting. Wonder what an 'Orbeth' is (band name and the track 'Orbethian Queen' make it sound like a theme). Nice review btw
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14.02.2012 - 08:30
Doc G.
Full Grown Hoser
Written by Guest on 13.02.2012 at 15:04

Well I initially clicked on this because of the horrendous cover art...

Good to see I'm not the only one.

Though progressive + a lot of spoken word bits? Yeah, doesn't sound like this would be for me.
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"I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck."
- George Carlin
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