Release
date: October 05th
2016. Label: Tartarus Records – Cassette, Consouling Sounds – CD
and Narshardaa Records - Vinyl. Format: Cassette/CD/DD/Vinyl
Sacred
States – Tracklisting
1.Strong
Eye
2.Maelstrom
3.Descending
Ladders
4.Crows
5.Void
Band
Members
Richard
Postma - Vocals/guitar
Alex
Loots - Guitar
Sven
Jurgens - Drums
Frank
de Boer - Bass
Review:
Since
2010, Dutch band Ortega's hypnotising melding of intense doom,
sludge, post metal and drone has resulted in a series of excellent
releases such as the sublime heaviness of The Serpent Stirs. The
bands latest Sacred States has to be their best yet and while it
retains the sheer heaviness of their earlier work, it has a slightly
more accessible edge to it resulting in a mesmerising and masterful
piece of work and guests on the album from the revered Primitive Man
and Gnaw Their Tongues add elements to the already huge Ortega
experience.
The
darkness of humanity is a subject that has long been explored in the
worm of Ortega and this continues on Scared States, with the sheer
intensity of the music and the roar of vocalist Richard (which are
both non-stop on the album) acting as a mirror to the horrors of the
world. Sacred States commences with the murkiness of Strong Eye and
this opening track opens you up to the abyss that is Ortega. This
sprawling track, like the majority of the music of Ortega is at times
unsettling but never anything other than engaging and will have your
full attention from the start.
Tracks
that follow such as the empowering heaviness and hypnotising riffs
and grooves of Maelstorm and Descending Ladders are just as powerful
as the opening salvo and the power that the songs conjure up is
undeniable and shows that with this album Ortega have unleashed an
even more severe heaviness and furious ascendancy to their music,
while also bringing the right amount of intense melody to the
proceedings.
The
inclusion of the epic Crows allows the album to take a bit of change
of pace and the songs brooding nature brings the heaviness from
another angle with its post metal passages interacting with the
sludge and doom in the track to mesmerising effect and this a track
that just builds and builds until it reaches the most all consuming
of crescendos to end what is a truly brilliant song.
Sacred
States concludes with the aptly title Void (a song that features
Mories from the similarly intense Gnaw Their Tongues) and finishes
the album in such a perfect fashion that you can't imagine it ending
in any other way, the song is an epic lesson in intensity and
harshness that basks in an air of negativity throughout but also
includes moments of true beauty (the soaring psychedelic riffs
towards the end of the track allow it to take on an air of life
affirming glory) although it finishes as only it could, in a swathe
of negative anger and a fall into nothingness.
Comparisons
to the likes of Neurosis and Amenra are perhaps inevitable as the
band have similar influences, directions and outlooks as these two
behemoths but Ortega have their own style, own sound and own vibe and
are perhaps even heavier than the two but the fact that comparisons
are drawn to these giants of heavy music is an indication of how huge
this album is .
Sacred
States is an intense listen but all the more rewarding for it, with
this album Ortega have created a piece of work that encapsulates the
overwhelming darkness of the world and humanity itself.
Words
by Gavin Brown
Sacred
States will be available to release on October 5th 2016
via the following formats and labels: Tartarus Records – Cassette,
Consouling Sounds – CD and Narshardaa Records - Vinyl.
Links:
