Isn’t it great when a band graft and graft, getting incrementally better with each release, building a fanbase from nothing that gets that little bit bigger and little bit more committed as each album cycle come around? It’s not just great; it’s extremely rare in the modern era. It used to happen on a regular basis - see everyone from Meshuggah and Devin Townsend to Gojira. If you’re something of a traditionalist, this is an idea that represents doing it “the right way”.
Well, for any traditionalists out there, Orbit Culture are definitely doing it the right way. The Swedes’ fifth full-length may not come with an overload of hype and wild claims made on its behalf, but Death Above Life will undoubtedly see them ascend more than a few rungs on the heavy metal ladder.
It’s a beautiful thing to see. The band’s last two albums, 2020’s Nija and 2023’s Descent, marked them out as masters of their craft, leading to tours with the likes of Trivium and opening the main stage at this year’s Download Festival. Death Above Life is another record full of gimmick-free, straightforward, melodic modern metal, played with passion, ingenuity and heart, so you should expect even more high-profile opportunities to come their way.
The album starts strong with the fantastic Inferna, all huge, juddering riffs, sandpaper-rough and raw vocals from frontman Niklas Karlsson and a top-class melodic hook. You can hear the lineage of melodic death metal’s finest in here – Carcass, At The Gates, Soilwork – but there’s also a contemporary sheen in the band’s own production that makes everything bolder, cleaner and crisper. The chaotic rhythms of Bloodhound are even better, recalling the manic, industrialised extremity of prime Strapping Young Lad. It might be the best song on the album, although there is plenty of competition for that title.
So much of Death Above Life is utterly thrilling. The Tales of War is Meshuggah-style death metal boom and burst; Hydra features some utterly breathtaking half-time headbanging grooves; and the title track’s, stomping, crushing tech metal will immediately weasel its way into your mind. The symphonic, chugging, black metal-inflected The Storm, with its spectacular lead guitar work, and the Fear Factory/Static-X-aping death dance of Neutral Collapse add further strings to their bow.
With an album as strong as this, Orbit Culture really should now be considered as legitimate contenders for heavy music’s next big breakthrough band for fans of modern, but classically inspired, metal, much like Lamb Of God and Machine Head have been in the past. Obviously, it’s a different era in 2025, but if you want to reward a band for striving for constant improvement, an indefatigable road dog attitude, working hard and, yes, doing things “the right way”, then there’s really no way you should be ignoring Orbit Culture.
Death Above Life is out this Friday, October 3, via Century Media
