Ortega - Sacred States - review
Ortega - Sacred States - review
Tracklist
01. Strong Eye02. Maelstrom
03. Descending Ladders
04. Crows
05. Void
A review by
BitterCOld October 11, 2016
Is Sacred States worth the wait?
Unequivocally yes.
Ortega are back, doing what they do best. Grinding up a little doom here, post there with a whole lotta sludge and craft songs that gradually build up in tension and intensity, blow up all Krakatoa-like, then re-coalesce. It's an organic feel built on a lot of repetition of a riff or concept, and just slowly adding to it over time.
For example, "Strong Eye" begins with a mid-pace chugga-chugga riff that after a couple minutes in builds up to the point the members are just pummeling their instruments. The EXPLOSION! Isn't just dropping the hammer down and doubling the pace, it's more slow motion riot.
Sacred States might only have five tracks, but they pack in nearly an hour's worth of tunes. The tripped-out "Descending Ladders", at a mere five minutes and change, functions like a nice pivot track separating the first couple and last couple tunes. Three of five clock in around 10 minutes each and the sprawling "Crows", which at almost 19 minutes is worth the band's [url= https://ortegaband.bandcamp.com/album/sacred-states]bandcamp[/url] asking price in and of itself.
So how much did the milodon and myself enjoy this album?
Thiiiiisssss muuucccchhh.
Just hoping they don't take six years for their next full-length!
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 9 |
| Originality: | 8 |
| Production: | 9 |
Written on 11.10.2016 by
Written on 11.10.2016 by
BitterCOld has been officially reviewing albums for MetalStorm since 2009. Comments
Comments:
13
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 Posts: 8625 |
Posts: 8625
I've been waitingg for a full-length from them for a while. 1634 was really good, and then the EPs since have been getting increasingly great - big fan of The Serpent Stirs and Crows (which I see is now on here). Got plenty of other albums I need to check out at the moment but will hopefully find time to catch up on this soon - if the rest of the album is as good as Crows this should be one of the better albums from 2016
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 Posts: 3723 |
Posts: 3723
The picture tells 1000 words  It's been a long time indeed, but as long as they keep their music on the 1634' level I will be satisfied.
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 Posts: 6941 |
Posts: 6941
I'm still dying from "the band, not the salsa" but the other jokes and the pic were pretty great, too  AND amidst all the funny you managed to convey a strong desire to hear this. I'm ready for some excellent build-ups!
---- "A life all mine Is what I choose At the end of my days" --The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
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 Posts: 40071 |
Posts: 40071 Written by Susan on 11.10.2016 at 14:13 Craig's used that as opening of his review of '1634', so a nice reference to the debut that is.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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Posts: 15358 Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 11.10.2016 at 14:37 and the band posted a link of the review to their facebook page, not only pointing out a favorable opinion of the album but i also noting i provided a recipe for salsa. Ortega July 5, 2011 · Metal Storm wrote a cool review of 1634: score 9.0! Holy Shit! http://www.metalstorm.net/pub/review.php?review_id=9337 Comments Ortega Ortega Also there's a good basic recipe for salsa in it July 5, 2011 at 2:48pm · Like i wanted to go back to that, because that was after the first package of doom Marcel sent me. lots of good stuff in there, including FAAL's ep and others, but 1634 is what really stood out to me. even the pic is a slight callback. somehow i ended up with it. i only brought two bags of clothes to South America, so not a lot of COld weather stuff... so i've got a lot of mileage out of it. including striking this silly pose at the Cave of the Milodon somewhere in south Chile. was cleaning out some pics on my phone for space while listening to the album, thought it a great graphical representation of my appreciation of Sacred States.
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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 Posts: 5989 |
Posts: 5989
Someone mentioned to me that Mories and Ethan McCarthy contributed bits to this album. Anyone know on what track(s)?
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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Posts: 6680
This is one of my favorite reviews of the year. I want to meet a milodon.
---- "Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader I'm the Agent of Steel.
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| Posts: 197 |
Posts: 197 Written by Auntie Sahar on 12.10.2016 at 00:45 Mories has contributed in "Void", but don't know the other one.
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Posts: 4367
Nice fun BC review after some time.  Not aware of their works, will try to rectify it soon enough. Good work.
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Posts: 2795
This is some Process of Guilt - Erosion level magnificence! You can feel the way they expanded on the debut's sound and added more depth. If it stands the test of time, this might become one of the genre's finest albums!
---- He who is not bold enough to be stared at from across the abyss is not bold enough to stare into it himself.
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| Posts: 15358 |
Posts: 15358 Written by InnerSelf on 13.10.2016 at 15:30 Might be a really good comparison point. Might prefer POG's Erosion a smidge more... but pretty spot on.
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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