Today I bring you Post Ironic Beardcore band hailing from the UK. I’ll let you figure out what that means. Orion bring a “Djent” influenced Progressive Metal front with some mathy undertones. They emerged in 2011 with the impressive “Where Whales Go To Die” EP. You can stream / buy that entire release right here. Soon after, our friends at Rogue Records America added Orion to their roster and the band dropped their debut full-length “All This World Means” a few months ago. That’s what we’ll be reviewing today.Ryan Robb, Nathan Mcleish, and crew did a solid job musically. They constructed songs displaying good ideas through intense songwriting and shifting counterpoint. There’s definitely a major Djent influence meaning it’s not always the most original, but it’s still good. What really makes this album different from the original EP is the addition of two vocalists – Nathan Hayes bringing the screams and Tyler Houghton doing clean vocals.
There are plenty of good segments laced throughout “All This World Means”. All the tracks have something to offer but I have to say my favorite ones were actually the three instrumental pieces “Relatively Minor”, “Contours”, and “Futurorum”. Those tracks especially display the musically creative side of this band. It also works as a throwback to the purely instrumental “Where Whales Go To Die”. Other memorable moments on this record can be found in “Omnes In Pulverem”, “Shift”, “Epiphany”, and so on.
This album comes with a few flaws. I have to say I’m not a fan of the clean vocals. Tyler can sing, but the delivery is somewhat flat and unappealing. This may be in part to the audio engineering. I can definitely see him improving on future releases. In fact, I can see the whole band really coming into their own and doing big things in the future. As recently hinted, another flaw is the production. It could be a lot tighter in some regards. The music on “All The World Means” is essentially very good, but these factors along with some other minor blemishes hold it back. There are still redeeming elements to hold up this record though.
To sum it up, Orion’s new full-length is a fairly good release. It is musically sound and entertaining even though it has some flaws on the side. If you’re looking for proggy djent type music, this should do the trick. You can give these guys a listen above and stream / buy “All This World Means” on Bandcamp!
