Author: Sandi Sadar Šoba
Artist: Orchid
Label: The Church Within Records
Release date: 2011
Runtime: 57:08
Rating: 5/5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRYWnm8elGY
The EP Through The Devil’s Doorway launched two years ago proved that the beauty of the old can be preserved in spite of all the decades of musical evolution that have passed. Its rustic stoner flavor from times long gone hits hard and works as if Orchid had written, recorded and brewed it in the golden age of the musical mainstream, then poured their spell into a time capsule that waited until today to rattle the world and unsuspecting modern listeners. This is a musical opposition to the decayed and ossified religious norms of the Vatican nest, to the false ideals of conjurers devoted to ailing gods. The evangelists of musical salvation are four gents who took their name from a juicy Black Sabbath song – Orchid. The band keeps a whole pile of other influences in its bosom, though, pouring fuel on the fire. Besides Sabbath, you can find Pentagram, Count Raven, Witchfinder General, Salem Mass and a pinch of Zeppelin in the genetic code, plus a damn lot of brilliant originality, which is why Capricorn isn’t just one more in a line of imitators – Orchid are actually walking in their own comfy pair of boots!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FOwagaG_-A
The punchy flight across the foamy sky of warmly smoky stoner metal kicks off with the strikingly colorful opener Eyes Behind The Wall, which instantly sails you off to an age when demonic menace meant Mr. Iommi and his trademark smeared distortion. This time the outstanding fusion of dirty yet warm riffs comes from the hands of inspired guitarist Mark Thomas Baker. Onto the skeleton of truly fluid, racing guitar sounds, tasty solos and shifting rhythms stick Carter Kennedy’s superb drum fills and Keith Nickel’s fat bass, while in perfect harmony with the music is the tasty, bright, contrasting retro vocal of Theo Mindell, thanks to which the 6-plus minutes of this first flight don’t feel long-winded for even a second.
The murky, heavy production, a perfect fit for the sound, with Moog sounds blending in quite naturally, conjures up the right backdrop for the title track Capricorn, and with a slight whiff of psychedelia the rhythm doesn’t break or slow down for a moment. The organic sound and entirely natural posture of all the building blocks make your whole body twitch spasmodically, and with funk, dirty tone and utterly addictive rhythm the passion just keeps ramping up. The song Black Funeral may indeed recall Hand Of Doom (Reprise), and the closing psychedelic epic Albatross may smell of Planet Caravan, with which Black Sabbath frothed up the calm surface of the dreamy seventies on the album Paranoid, but Orchid are wooing the ears of listeners in a whole new millennium. Down are also part of this army of retro lovers doing it in a new way, and they keep popping into my head, involuntarily, while listening to Capricorn. Maybe that’s also why the comparisons weave so subtly into the imaginarium of what you hear, while Orchid build and tear down temples of dreamlike landscapes with tracks like Masters Of It all, Cosmonaut Of Three or fall into an eclectic catharsis of all chakras with the song Electric Father.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln-e2lQ4Lh4
It doesn’t bother us in the slightest that Orchid have the influences of authorities like Black Sabbath tattooed on their souls, because Orchid are able to reinterpret the rock gentlemen in a breathtaking way. In the web of what you hear there’s not a single moment you could accuse of being uninspired or boring. For that reason too, it’s nearly impossible to single out highlights, since the whole record Capricorn is an outstanding, thoughtfully conceived whole from start to finish, and the name Orchid is burning itself in capital letters into the spectrum of perception for the future too. Judging by the excellence on display, the road ahead is exciting and worth long months or years of anticipation!
Line-up
Theo Mindell – vocals, percussion
Mark Thomas Baker – guitar
Nickel – bass
Carter Kennedy – drums
Production
Will Storkson & Orchid
Tracklist
1. Eyes Behind the Wall
2. Capricorn
3. Black Funeral
4. Masters of it All
5. Down Into the Earth
6. He Who Walks Alone
7. Cosmonaut of Three
8. Electric Father
9. Albatross
