A Dark Orbit
Inverted

A dark orbit can probably be said about the orbit of the theorised ninth planet in our solar system, circling the sun far outside the orbit of Neptune deep inside the Kuiper Belt. It is a planet not yet actually observed but its effect on objects in the Kuiper Belt has let to some astronomers calculating that a planet about the size of Neptune is out there just waiting to be observed. Its orbit can certainly be described as dark considering its distance from our star that we call The Sun, one orbit is expected to be somewhere between ten and twenty thousand years. The cover of this American band’s album features an astronaut above a Planet X somewhere. The press sheet talk about the band’s built up frustrations that are ventilated on this album that has much filth and stuff, according to frontman Chad Kapper.

Stylewise it is described as Atmospheric Noise Metal, and progressive is another word tossed around – and that might not be incorrect as it is about there it stands. Mostly screamed or grunted vocals, super heavy, downtuned, aggressive and such things and I think you can describe the album as a story in fourteen chapters. Kind of like a very long story as the playing time is 74 minutes, which is a tad, well actually not just a tad, too long. The album is hard hitting and heavy, aggressive and everything, it is well produced and has many dimensions and a solid atmosphere. I think fans of this kind of music will take it to heart as it probably presses the right buttons for them. I do however also think, and has seen others claim the same, that it is an album that requires time and many repeat listening in order to take the album in.

Some reviewer described it as the hardest hitting album with an astronaut on the cover, I think Atoma hit hard a few years ago and it has astronauts on its cover, but it is not as heavy as this album. Some claim that it is fantastic and all of that, and I guess that fans of this kind of music will find it very agreeable but at the same time I highly doubt that it will be an album that appeals to a wider audience. I am not impressed by the whole of the story but some parts of it are great, however it is a too long a story and it is pretty boring in the long run.

Only one song stands out to me, it is the ninth one called Pretty Guts, because it is a bit different and to me it works really well and I enjoy those two minutes out of the 74. Other than that there isn’t much for me to feast my ears upon, and I keep thinking that it is only for fans of this kind of music and probably rightly so but as I am not really that much into this kind of music I have to review it as I see it and that means that I have to say that this is not really that great and that it feels great to finally be able to put this album away after giving it nearly 17 hours of my life. In the end I think that it is safe to say that if Noise Metal isn’t something you tend to listen to you could just forget about this album before even listening to it.

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