BAND OF THE WEEK: ORM
Four new songs, an hour and a half of music. And it's not boring!
Sometimes I’ll sleep on bands for a while for the stupidest reasons. I even know the word “orm” means serpent, or snake, in most modern Nordic languages, but goddamn it if I didn’t still picture Orm from the hilarious Norwegian show Norsemen, or Vikingane as its original title goes, when I first encountered this Danish band a couple of years ago (around the time their excellent second album ‘Ir’ was about to be released). As you might be aware, that series is a parody of the more serious Viking shows that have been so successful in the last few years, and Orm is a generally very silly character, a chieftain with very little talent, or will (at first, at least) to lead anyone anywhere. There are a great many memorable Orm quotes, such as:
So, you know, very funny but maybe not the first thing you want to think of when you’re about to listen to that solemn sort of “windswept black metal”, as I saw on a press release (for another band, mind you) once, and unironically loved it as a description for this sort of epic, complex and long-winded kind of atmosphere some of these artists try to create. Once I finally gave ‘Ir’ a whirl, however, I was hooked - ORM are much better than most other bands of this kind, able to belt out twenty minute plus songs without you wandering out into the wilderness of disinterest and boredom halfway through. So it was with some enthusiasm that I received the promo for their new album ‘Intet • Altet’ a few weeks ago, and I’ve been happily spinning it and getting lost in the massive landscapes, both real and figurative, that its four songs evoke.
After that last paragraph, it may come as a surprise to you that this is a double album. And yeah, four songs in total. Thing is this up here is just an excerpt, as the length of the songs is, respectively, 24:39, 24:16, 19:24, 23:52. So each song is one side, of course, and don’t worry even if your attention span isn’t that great - none of these “movements” ever feels like its dragging on or that it should have been heavily edited like it so often happens when bands go for this kind of musical ambition. ORM have improved at their songwriting craft with every release so far and this new album keeps that evolution. As snowblind fury segues into progressive-tinged, melodic melancholy and vice-versa, enormous build-ups and climaxes unfurl, and you’re kept constantly on the edge of your seat for the duration. As with the best bands vaguely within this kind of black metal, like Wolves In The Throne Room or Krallice for instance, ORM seem to just follow their own distinct individuality and end up with something bigger than whatever genre you’ll choose to fit them in.
When you start to dig deeper - and you will, this thing is addictive - you’ll also realise there’s been some serious thought into the whole thing. As the press release explains, “each of the four compositions centers around a distinct life stage: the fiery youth, the burdened adult, the ascetic hermit, and finally the ascension into the next realm. The lyrics are inspired by the psalms and legends that mark the passage between the life stages, and ultimately the inevitable passage from life to death,” and if you listen to it old school style, like sitting down with the album in your hand and paying attention to the lyrics instead of having it on while you check your mail or do your dishes or whatever, the sonic representation of each of these passages will soon become apparent and greatly improve your connection to the already excellent music.
Also, don’t think there wasn’t competition for today’s Band Of The Week spot! As it has been happening seemingly every other Friday for the past couple of months, the deluge of records you should pay attention to being released today is staggering - from the obligatory new Autopsy to Acephalix, Off!, City Of Caterpillar, Everest Queen, Live Burial and like a million more, it’d be easy for ORM to get buried in there. Don’t do that, they deserve your attention.
