Customer Reviews

Orgasm

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ecto is a vaguely defined 'genre' of music characterized by female vocals, eccentric songwriting, innovative melodies or sounds, and is generally difficult to categorize. Kate Bush has been called ecto, if you want a reference point. I would say Atrox (pronounced "attrocks") brings ecto to the world of progressive metal. Imagine Evanescence, but far more musicality, more complex and original and clever and inventive music, with way crazier vocals, and overall not sucking. So basically it's nothing like Evanescence but you get the idea. Oh, and DON'T make the mistake of thinking that because this is a metal band with female vocals that it's another Gathering wannabe mimetic of _Mandylion_.

If you're cool enough to already be familiar with this band, it is meaningful to say that this album is not as weird as their last two albums, _Terrestrials_ and _Contentum_ (those are both excellent, by the way). They _are_ still weird, naturally, but here the weirdness is more metalized and morely comfortably integrated.

The central figure in the band is the vocalist Monika, whose vocal acrobatics can pirouette on a dime. I've never heard metal with vocals like hers -- I the closest comparison I can draw is Kate Bush (think _The Dreaming_ and _Lionheart_), although they don't necessarily sound much alike. And while Monika's hysterical vocal dynamics have incredible scope, they contribute to the sound's fluidity and content, without ever detracting from them.

With the histrionics of Monika being the main feature, one must not forget to lend a careful ear to the overall picture. The band mostly toils in very metal fields -- the music is fast, thick, and aggressive. But the band also creates moments of lovely aural enigma and ear-catching not-quite-but-almost-jazz textural parts. Like the singer, the music has a flair for the dynamic. "Methods of Survival" opens with a chugging riff in standard meter, but on the 16-note cycle it resolves like Frippian meter, with a displaced beat. On "Flesh City", chunky, chugging odd-timed riffs alternate with sections that evoke a weird jazzy shivaree. Riffs like a chopping axe bookend the crazy middle section of "Burning Bridges", where Monika shrieks and wails over a propulsive funk. "Second-hand Traumas" mixes up thick walls of concrete riffing with interludes of metallized churning interlaced with acoustic guitar arpeggios, and rhythmic themes are used for the motivic structural arc. Every song amply demonstrates the band's ingenuity and power.

The vocals might be too over-the-top for some people, otherwise -- aside from one or two lapses of taste with synths -- this album is great. Recommended to anyone who thinks the band sounds remotely interesting, any simpleton who thinks Evanescence is original, and anyone who would be enticed by the idea of Kate Bush doing metal. This band is hot stuff.

Ok, so maybe Kate Bush isn't... but Monika Edvardsen is, and she's equally bizarre.

For being Atrox's most accessible album, Orgasm is still pretty damn inaccessible. Listening to Monika sing is like being afflicted with A.D.D. and going through mood swings every 30 seconds, which actually comes across as a mostly tolerable and oddly enjoyable experience. Her voice twists and turns with the direction of the music, or a more accurate statement might be that the music flows around the erratic fluidity of her voice. She sings, shrieks, squeals, squeaks, wails, and hits all kinds of highs, lows, mids, lefts, and rights. She can be scary, soothing, tongue-in-cheek, dramatic, bipolar, melodic, chaotic... and sometimes all at once. Admittedly, Monika's vocal acrobatics are not quite as off the wall here as they are on albums like Contentum or Terrestrials, but they are sufficient to remove any doubts regarding her artistic state of mind.

While Monika could be considered the centerpiece here, the rest of the band is not to be overlooked. Many of the songs are driven by understated rhythmic motifs that are unique in and of themselves in that they come off as rather minimalistic patterns that do not feature any kind of elaborate showboating or excessive speed (fills, rolls, and other such things are practically non-existent on Orgasm, with the exception of various little forays throughout the song "Burning Bridges") - however, these patterns are displaced severely throughout the course of a given song, giving the music a dynamic, twisted, and highly kinetic feel. The guitars are divided into two camps - there's the angular, choppy riffing style that mostly follows the bass drum and serves to baffle the listener's sense of time (easily heard throughout any song on the record, though most notably on the two opening tracks "Methods of Survival" and "Flesh City", and the two closing tracks "Secondhand Traumas" and "Pre-Sense"); and then there are the rather profound flights that feature reverb/delay-laden progressions augmented by layered textural work that gives the music an enigmatic and celestial feel - "This Vigil" or "Heartquake" are both good examples. The bass work is quite good, and trades off between following the guitars during the more distinctly metallic portions of the album to ambient, funky, and jazzy contributions throughout the rest.

The strangest thing to be found on this album is probably the middle section of "Burning Bridges", which features Monika squeaking like a deranged, frightened little girl opposite to charming, yet intimidating male vocalist Rune Sorgard in a performance that comes across as some nightmarish stageplay backed by catchy funk. Orgasmic? Yes.

It doesn't end there, though. Once you've come to terms with the vocal performances on this album, it's a safe bet to check out Atrox's past albums, notably Contentum and Terrestrials. Monika is about 200% more bizarre on either one of those. It's great.

Unfortunately, Monika left the band after recording Orgasm. Damnit... but I guess it's a great way to go out.

great cd indeed. the guitars are very heavy, which is a plus for me. monikas voice is great and her lyrics are bordering on genius this time!! to the reviewer before me...you say it's their 5th studio release but i only know of 4: mesmerized, contentum, terrestrials and orgasm. what's the one i'm missing??? drop me a line.

This 5th studio release from Norwegian progressive metalband, Atrox, is surely one of the best releases in progressive metal genre this year. With a mix of hard, tight guitar-riffs, complex timeshifts and jazzy horror guitarlicks, the band really shows that they are starting to find their very own style. Singer, Monika Edvardsen, uses her voice to the max, exploring the techniques of ethnic music and choice of notes, which adds an even more surreal feeling to the already very exciting music. "Orgasm" is packed with 9 good songs and still has lots of variation, from the very dark and heavy to the more "circus-like" and slightly humoristic parts. A record every prog- or metalfan should have!