The order of fear is back! Almost four years have passed since their fifth album Gunman was released. A superb record full of epic melodies, which will stay in your ear for an eternity after listening to them, and riffs, that caught the perfect balance between heavy and catchy. By now you might have guessed, that I’m a big fan of their last record, and I was quite excited to listen to their sixth studio effort Final Days.
After the dark wild west scenery they visited on Gunman, the sci-fi setting they created for Final Days seems arguably less cool on first glance, but I’m willing to give it a chance (full disclosure: the writer of this review thinks every setting is less cool than a wild west setting. Except for a pirates setting maybe.)
The band wastes no time on an orchestral intro-track, like most metalbands of their genre like to do, and dive headfirst into Heart of The Android. After around one minute and thirty seconds, I already have the first chorus stuck in my head, that won’t leave my ear for hours after listening to it. And it won’t be the last. This monster of a song is followed by the first single of the record. And In The Dawn Of The AI delivers the goods just as good as Heart Of The Android did. With a keyboard-lead bridge as a bonus.
Keyboards also dominate the next song. Apparently there were Ogan-fans who didn’t like Vampire in Ghost Town, because it was too “poppy”. If you’re one of those, then I got bad news for you, because this one might be even “poppier”. Luckily I’m not one of those fans and I absolutely love the mighty Inferno. The hooks and catchy melodies just keep on coming. Let The Fire Rain is no exception. Truth be told, by now I’m in full fanboy mode. And I can hardly get out a decent thought, ’cause my head is full with mighty chorus-melodies.
I even like the “obligatory ballad” of this record (Something I usually despise). Alone In The Dark is a superb song, were Seeb gets help on the microphone from Ylva Eriksson, singer of Swedish band Brothers of Metal. It doesn’t quite reach the greatness that is Come With Me To The Other Side (arguably the “ballad” of Gunman), but hardly any song does.
The later half of the album is completed by the songs Black Hole, Absolution For Our Final Days and Hollow. I mention them all in one, because, honestly, I just don’t want to repeat the phrase “irresistibly catchy” over and over again. Those are the adjectives, that best decribe all of those great songs.
But wait! There’s more! It is not over yet, even if the track-list claims it is. It Is Over ends the album in the only way, an album of this scale should end: with the obliteration of humanity. And we bow out, just like the dinosaurs did:
By asteroid impact (aka my favourite way).
If I had to say something negative about this record, it would be the only thing, that bothered me about their last record: the artwork.
After the behemoth that was the Gunman album, my expectation were high for the follow-up, but, holy hell, Orden Ogan blew them into the stratosphere. I’m curious were they will go with their next album. If you liked there last few albums, you will love this one. If you didn’t, then we can’t be friends. Sorry (not sorry).
Final Days will be released worldwide on March 12th, 2021 via AFM Records and comes along with a “luxury problem“, the
bar for future releases is now incredibly high.
Here you can also read our earlier live review of Orden Ogan, together with Powerwolf and Xandria.
Orden Ogan Official Website
Orden Ogan Facebook
Orden Ogan Instagram
Orden Ogan Twitter
I like music. All of it. Except for schlager… And ballermann. Oh boy do I hate ballermann.
