Band:	Ortega
Album:	The Serpent Stirs
Style:	Doom metal, Sludge metal
Release date:	December 01, 2012
A review by:	Boxcar Willy

01. The Serpent Stirs

What is music?

Seriously, what is music? Many "academic" sources state many different answers to what seems like and easy question: But when you actually take a minute to think about it, what would you say it is? I was asked this in my physics class earlier this week and it made me think. I took an analytical route and decided that it is "the arrangement of sound in a creative manner." Simple right? Simple, but effective. Another person said that music is "sound that is pleasing to our ears." I liked this answer, even though it's completely incorrect. The answer was more of a personal answer, rather than a factual. It made me think even more about what music actually is. Where am I going with this, you ask?

I don't have a clue.

BUT, what I do know for a fact, is that the Dutch band Ortega indeed plays music. Good music at that. The Serpent Stirs is an 18 minute long song that band released near the end of 2012. The 18 minutes of "creatively arranged sound" starts off as nothing more than a hum. A gentle, buzzing hum. The hum builds and builds, the down tuned guitars and warm bass build and build, slowly becoming more and more powerful. The slow initial riffs, and bass lines then erupt into a fury of post-metal intensity. The atmosphere fills with crashing cymbals and heavy, heavy (oh so heavy) riffs. Then, like a tropical storm, as soon as they came, they're gone again.

Then, the absolutely soul-melting vocals of Richard Postma come into play. Oh boy oh boy does this man have a throat. The vicious mix continues its rampage, broken off momentarily for a guitar solo of epic post-portions.

And then, without missing a beat, the storm is gone again. The threat constantly lingers, however, and not long after, it explodes. The beat down of sonic-sounds and groovy-growls continues to pummel and pummel the shore. The structure isn't going to surprise you too much, there's nothing really new or exciting here, but what Ortega does, they do well. Post-metal and sludge the way it's supposed to be. Like a tropical storm.