As the saying goes, don’t fix what ain’t broken, and Descent follows in Nija’s footsteps. While largely sticking to the verse-chorus format of bands like Soilwork or Scar Symmetry, the verses hit harder with palpable groove with a hard edge of industrial leanings. A conduit through which frontman Niklas Karlsson channels his pain, Descent is benefited by fantastic vocals (ferocious roars and powerful Hetfield-inspired cleans), chunky grooves, and just enough melody. While Nija managed a noisy palette by making its sound mammoth, Descent finds the act taking it a step further with a nearly impenetrable mix. Ultimately, while the performances and songwriting are as good as, if not better, than they’ve ever been, you would be hard-pressed to able to tell, compressed into a disappointingly dense muck.
An often tedious balance is key to Orbit Culture’s success. Tracks like openers “Black Mountain” and “Sorrower” hit hard and fast with relentless curb stomping groove and thrashy speed, capitalized upon by Master of Puppets-esque choruses. Melodic flourishes contrast with dark synth swells, the Gothenburg riffing of “Descent” and “From the Inside” taking a more Amon Amarth vibe, while the foreboding atmospherics of “Alienated” and closer “Through Time” inject a menace that adds to Descent’s mammoth quality, and dark acoustic plucking makes tracks like “Sorrower” and “Through Time” feel like the calm after the storm. While solid in their own right, when Orbit Culture commits to a thrash-first aesthetic, tracks feel organic and fleshed out; “Vultures of North” and “The Aisle of Fire” are full of riff-first kickassery, with catchy Metallica-esque soaring choruses breaking through the onslaught of devastating axe-work. Descent’s predictable structure of riffy and groovy melodeath verses paired with thrash-inspired choruses provides a bulletproof formula for a balance of harshness and accessibility, allowing Karlsson’s formidable vocals to capitalize.
The foremost problem with Descent is its production. A lousy DR3 does no favors for the content brimming in Orbit Culture’s onslaught, as riffs, solos, synths, and vocals are compressed into a crusty mess. The instruments all bring a unique sound to the table, the drums retaining a punch, the distorted bass thundering, and guitars leveraging a colossal wham, but together they overcrowd the mix. “Black Mountain” is painfully guilty in spite of its bulletproof songwriting, as the synth swells that punch the chorus often drown out the rest of the instruments, a solo wailing away somewhere beneath the fray. Thrash-forward tracks are most effective for this reason, as the bottlenecking sound throttles the overall quality but favors the frill-less riff attacks with simplicity. It also does not help that most tracks are hindered by one issue or another, alongside production: tiresome length (“Alienated,” “Vultures of North”), over-reliance on cleans (“The Aisle of Fire,” “From the Inside”), or forgettable choruses and wonky tempos (“Undercity,” “Descent”). Its inconsistency and excessive length do not help things, as nearly fifty minutes of this breed of compression and riff-centricity gets exhausting.
Don’t get me wrong, Orbit Culture will beat your ass heartily and plentifully. There are plenty of chunky riffs and colossal atmospheres to behold, but the density, compression, and inconsistency in quality drags Descent kicking and screaming down several pegs from Nija. While its predecessor was far from perfect in mix and production, it benefited from a crossroads of punishment, atmosphere, and accessibility – all of which are casualties of Descent’s crowded palette. While the pummeling is a clear highlight, and performances are solid across the board, there is simply too much going on under the umbrella of a compressed mix to make the same impact. The songwriting and punishment are all there as stalwart trademarks of a remarkable act – they just sound off in Descent.
Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 3 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Seek & Strike Records
Websites: orbitculture.bandcamp.com | orbitculture.com | facebook.com/OrbitCulture
Releases Worldwide: August 18th, 2023
