Orden Ogan - Ravenhead (Feb. 2015)

[heavyharmonies]

Listening to this now. For fans of epic/lush power metal.

• Orden Ogan
• Ravenhead
• F.E.V.E.R.
• The Lake
• Evil Lies in Every Man
• Here at the End
• A Reason to Give
• Deaf Among the Blind
• Sorrow Is Your Tale
• In Grief and Chains
• Too Soon

https://www.facebook.com/ORDENOGAN

 

ORDEN OGAN’s 2012 release “To The End” secured the international breakthrough for one of the finest metal bands to emerge from Germany in the last decade. After the very well received “Vale” (2008, re-issued in 2010) and “Easton Hope” (2010), the next logical step was done with “To The End” and its widely popular hit single/video “The Things We Believe In”. Now, after finally receiving the more than deserved attention for their musical creations, ORDEN OGAN return with“Ravenhead”, likely their most catchy and fascinating record. More than ever before in the band’s history, the new piece of work is the result of teamwork, as all members were contributing in the songwriting process, with the lion’s share still coming from band leader Seeb.

“More metal, more chorusses, more Orden Ogan”, is the quick summary that Seeb comes up with to describe the new material - a very accurate analysis. “Ravenhead” blends traditional heavy/power metal with an up-to-date, modern production. It could be argued that it takes the sound of metal legends like Running Wild, Gamma Ray or Blind Guardian to the next level. Never before ORDEN OGAN have sounded so focussed and -in a way- “stripped down” and reduced to the essence. Still “Ravenhead” is an album rich of details that will amaze fans of traditional and modern metal alike.

The album’s cover artwork was once again painted by iconic artist Andreas Marschall - another tradition in the ORDEN OGAN history. “We are fans of real painted artworks”, Seeb states. “Working with somebody like Andreas, who did all our album artworks since “Vale”, is just great. He understands our ideas perfectly and became a constant part of the team.”

Guest singers on the album are HammerFall’s Joacim Cans (who contributed vocals for “Sorrow Is Your Tale” and Chris Boltendahl (Grave Digger), who can be heard on “Here At The End Of The World”.
“Ravenhead” was produced and mixed by Seeb, the mastering was handled by Dennis Köhne (Sodom, Lacuna Coil).

ORDEN OGAN’s self-produced demo/EP „Testimonium A.D.“ (2004) caused quite a stir in the underground, with numerous magazines considering the new German band to be one of the best newcomers in years. However, fans had to wait for the debut album “Vale” until early 2008. From this point on, things really started rolling. ORDEN OGAN’s mixture of classic German metal, modern interpretation and a melancholic touch was received more than well. “Vale” sold surprisingly well and the most important magazines hailed ORDEN OGAN as “the only legitimate successor to Blind Guardian and Running Wild” - even though the band itself never agreed to that really; due to mutual respect for these metal legends who still are around and as relevant as ever. ORDEN OGAN somehow reached an audience of old school metal fans and new generations as well. Shortly after, the band signed with AFM Records in Summer 2009. Just weeks after, the band’s video clip “We Are Pirates!” was used by Germany’s biggest TV station RTL for the Formula 1 broadcast at the entire racing weekend of Monza, which drew 11 million viewers. In January 2010 then ORDEN OGAN’s second album “Easton Hope” was released, a highly praised, epic conceptual effort. And the band for the first time became “visible” throughout whole Europe: tours with Grave Digger, Tiamat, Van Canto and Freedom Call made their fanbase increase steadily. A re-release of the “Vale” album (incl. bonus tracks) followed in November 2010. Also appearances at festivals like Wacken Open Air, Rock Hard festival, Bang Your Head and numerous others increased the band’s fanbase tremendously. 2012 saw ORDEN OGAN release “To The End”, which almost cracked the Top 40 of the album charts in Germany (#41). The album’s single/video “The Things We Believe In” became an instant classic in the power metal genre. ORDEN OGAN toured Europe with Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody and again were invited to play many of the most important festivals, where the band’s stage outfits and “robot soldier” companions became the talk of the events.

February 2015: finally the German power metallers are back with their new studio album! Spearheaded by the breathtaking video for “F.E.V.E.R”, “Ravenhead” again proves that ORDEN OGAN are the future of power metal.

[DaHun72]

Epic/lush power metal and those jackets.... I guess I'm in