ORDEN OGAN
“The Order Of Fear”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

10/10

Orden Ogan are a power metal band from Germany forming in 1996, releasing seven albums to date. Following the grand legacy of German power metal, Orden Ogan continue to go from strength to strength, with every album released a progression from the previous one. And heading toward the bands thirtieth year in existence, there’s absolutely no sign of the Arnsberg five-piece slowing down – the bands most recent release ‘The Order Of Fear’ (emerging in 2024), featuring eleven songs across fifty fast paced and highly infectious minutes…

…’Kings Of The Underworld’ roaring outta the blocks at a hundred miles a fucking hour! Immediately into its stride, ‘Kings Of The Underworld’ is head bang-able right from the off, the pace, power and purpose fucking phenomenal – what a blockbuster of an opening salvo! Orden Ogan have grabbed listeners attentions straightaway with that one – the title song ‘The Order Of Fear’ dropping a gear but remaining very much power driven! The weight of ‘The Order Of Fear’ (the song) is incredible, the band perching themselves at the heavier end of the power metal genre for this one, displaying the bands penchant for roaming round the entire genre to deliver a pace changing power changing energetic gallop of metal!

And talking of an energetic gallop, ‘Moon Fire’ is a thundering head banger to get the juices flowing – all of ’em! The classic “foot on the monitor” mentality shines through ‘Moon Fire’, Orden Ogan delivering a fairly traditional metal feel here but with the added elegance of power metal! Even the heaviness has gotten heavier too, the album getting progressively heavier as each song passes on by – ‘Conquest’ entering the fray on the crest of a hymn-like swagger! For the first twenty seconds only, ’cause then boom, the band are heavily strutting their stuff once more, ‘Conquest’ oozing an anthemic call to arms across its chorus break. It’s been seven years since I last delved this deep into Orden Ogan – way too long for a metalhead like me, sorry guys, but I’m here right now, enjoying every single moment, rocking my head back and forth like a maniac! And maintaining the incredible intensity level, ‘Blind Man’ bustles into view, pushing everything and everyone outta the way, the band a tour de force of heavy, power metal.

Are the Arnsberg five-piece heading into contention for Album Of The Year with ‘The Order Of Fear’ (the album)? What do you think! The band power on with yet another increase in heaviness, ‘Prince Of Sorrow’ thunder stomping its way into sight, shuddering the ground with immense force to shake buildings and crumble walls – Orden Ogan delivering a masterclass of heavy, power metal. Take note all you young guns, this is how to do it – ‘Dread Lord’ taking a slightly more anthemic path than everything heard so far! I say slightly, only because Orden Ogan remain thoroughly energetic, delivering a tempo changing foot stomp to pound into submission the senses of every listener everywhere! Listeners that have not stopped head banging since the album began – a mellow atmosphere descending upon the album like an elevator descends downward! ‘My Worst Enemy’ oozes balladry and a majestic hymn-like swagger, the band inviting listeners to raise lighters high in the air – Orden Ogan allowing everyone a breather from the full on intensity of ‘The Order Of Fear’ (the album) up to this point!

And maintaining the previous songs balladry come hymn-like nature, ‘Anthem To The Darkside’ is elegance personified – for the first minute or so! And then fuck me, all hell breaks fucking loose, ‘Anthem To The Darkside’ resuming the bands power driven metal onslaught! Yet across the chorus break, elegance returns with a vengeance, the level of majesty shooting right through the roof too. What a song! What an album! What a band! And at just a minute in length, ‘The Journey Thus Far’ is an eerie spoken word passage acting as an intro to the albums final song ‘The Long Darkness’. Clocking in at eight and a half minutes in length, ‘The Long Darkness’ is by far and away the longest song on offer, taking the levels of elegance and majesty to new heights. The atmosphere set by the band here is fucking phenomenal, Orden Ogan striding tall and very proud right through the heart of the glory and epic genres of metal. But the band don’t just leave it there, ‘The Long Darkness’ changing gear, tempo and pace on its way to a conclusion. What a great ending to a very good album.

Overall, a full on and fairly ferocious gallop of all out heavy, power metal with an immense infectious level and tonnes of head bang ability.

TRACKLIST

Kings Of The Underworld
The Order Of Fear
Moon Fire
Conquest
Blind Man
Prince Of Sorrow
Dread Lord
My Worst Enemy
Anthem To The Darkside
The Journey Thus Far
The Long Darkness

http://www.ordenogan.de/
https://www.facebook.com/ORDENOGAN

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