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Rating:
7.5 |
Orden Ogan - To The End
26 October 2012
Disc I
01. The Frozen Few
02. To The End
03. The Things We Believe In
04. Land Of The Dead
05. The Ice Kings
06. Till The Stars Cry Out
07. This World Of Ice
08. Dying Paradise
09. Mystic Symphony
10. Angels War
11. Take This Light
12. Masks [Limited Edition Digipack bonus]
13. The Battle Of Waterloo [Running Wild cover] [Limited Edition Digipack bonus]
Disc II [Limited Edition DVD "Live In Wacken 2010"]
01. Intro
02. To New Shores of Sadness
03. Reality Lost
04. Farewell
05. Welcome Liberty
06. Easton Hope
07. We are Pirates
08. Angels War
09. Mystic Symphony
10. Outro
11. The Things We Believe In
12. Behind the Scenes
As a board generalisation, power metal these days comes either with extra cheese or saturated with symphonies. Orden Ogan are a German power metal band that have been plugging away for a few years now, and with the release of their fourth album provide something the scene has been somewhat lacking; a simple, solid and enjoyable album.
The unmistakable Teutonic power metal style is ever present here; strong songs, catchy chorus' and a hint of the apparently forgotten speed metal genre - much in the same vein as fellow Tutons Blind Guardian and Helloween. Orden Ogan don't need overly cringe-worthy lyrics, facepalm-worthy attempts at radio singles, or a symphonic orchestra to make an impression.
To The End is undoubtedly the band's most consistent and enjoyable album to date, with some belting songs throughout. Orden Ogan perform this style of metal wonderfully with great choral/layered vocals, great riffs, and a handful of memorable songs; "Land Of The Dead" and "Till The Stars Cry Out" to name two among plenty more in the stronger second half of the album. It might be very straight-forward stuff, but the simplicity goes a fair way in showing the bigger bands that solid song writing can't be created by slapping symphonies over the top.
By no means does To The End break any barriers or win awards for originality. This strong German style has been done by countless bands in the past, but that's just the thing; while you might have worn your Tales From The Twilight World CD into dust, To The End is a new album and not so much a breath of fresh air, but a sigh of relief for the power metal genre.
It's been done a thousand times before, but Orden Ogan do it very well. Let this be a reminder to the bigger bands about the importance of those core ingredients; solid riffs and honest, catchy chorus' when it comes to writing a metal album.
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Power metal
AFM Records
Germany
Length: 54:42
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Performance:
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8 |
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Songwriting:
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8 |
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Originality:
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6 |
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Production:
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9 |
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Written on 26.10.2012 by
Baz Anderson
Member of Staff since 2006.
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Comments
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7
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195 |
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 Susan - 26.10.2012 at 04:35
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Thank god. Some decent power metal this year! I'm listening to some random clips from this album on youtube and so far your review seems spot on.
AWESOME  |
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| The first sentence of this review sums up my opinion about power metal nowadays. And no, it's not a good thing. |
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 GT - 26.10.2012 at 15:04
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Sounds like something I would enjoy.
Quote:
Orden Ogan don't need overly cringe-worthy lyrics, facepalm-worthy attempts at radio singles, or a symphonic orchestra to make an impression.
Now why am I thinking of Avantasia/Tobias Sammet here?!  |
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| All genres have their share of negative things. Isn't black and death metal plagued with tons of shitty bands that do nothing but throw random riffs, blast beats and growling? or symphonic bands that do pop instead of metal and the same rehashed formula over and over again. All genres have their great bands and their shitty bands and to be honest Power Metal is still the best among them because we have a lot of strong releases, and by Power Metal I mean Power/Prog Metal which also includes bands like Pagan's Mind, Symphony X, Angra, Circus Maximus etc... |
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...And to top it all off, the "Things We Believe In" video is just amazing. I'm glad I found Orden Ogan. They get power metal and they get it right. While cheese can be delicious, it should not be on everything and I think symphonies are overused and largely misused these days. The phrase "sigh of relief" is perfect for To The End from what I got to hear.
@GT: LOL! |
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Written by GT on 26.10.2012 at 15:04
Sounds like something I would enjoy.
Quote:
Orden Ogan don't need overly cringe-worthy lyrics, facepalm-worthy attempts at radio singles, or a symphonic orchestra to make an impression.
Now why am I thinking of Avantasia/Tobias Sammet here?!
Great review even though power metal these days is ... well, not what it used to be  |
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I really enjoyed the first four songs (that's including the intro). I loved it.
Now hear my caution: I will go all full retard Wintersun fanboy on anyone who rates this album lower than an 8. |
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