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ORDEN OGAN
Gunmen
AFM Records

ORDEN OGAN (not to be confused with Odin’s Organ, the…uh…hammer of the Norse god of gods) have been lurking in the mead halls of German Metal since the late ‘90s, but their ascent to noteworthy greatness began in earnest with their signing to the now-monolithic German Metal label AFM Records and the subsequent release of Easton Hope in 2010. In the years that followed the band has released one epic slab of Power Thrash after another with each release outdistancing its predecessor in dominant fashion, establishing a powerful sound akin to BLIND GUARDIAN without all the bells & whistles with a vocal style recognizably similar to Norway’s COMMUNIC. To cement their worthiness as Germanic Metal titans they also crafted a handful of remarkable music videos whose quality, imagery and production values far exceed 95% of any other video you’re likely to have seen in the last 10+ years (See: “F.E.V.E.R.”, “The Things We Believe In”, “Land Of The Dead” and the recent “Gunman”, which can be seen on KNAC.COM HERE.

). At this point in ORDEN OGAN’s career you’re looking at a band that has a clear sense of musical and visual identity with a consistency that all but ensures that a fan of one album will be a fan of all.

Enter ORDEN OGAN’s 6th studio triumph Gunmen, a conceptual triumph encapsulating their tried and true formula of driving drums, exceptionally sharp guitar tones, crisp & catchy riffs, superior solos, falsetto-free Power vocals & infectious gang choruses. Gunmen conjures a richly shaded world where the sweeping winds of Metal scour the desolate desert landscapes of the Old West, melding the pervasive tragedy of life in a harsh and unforgiving world with the adrenalizing inspiration of finely executed Metal to deliver an original and widely entertaining journey into both sound & imagination. With tragic strokes the album concept paints a portrait of a grief-stricken gunman returned to the place where his wife was murdered, hell-bent on exacting revenge for the love that death denied him and irrevocably compelled further into tragedy by the ill-fated quest for revenge that has consumed his soul.

The 10 songs on offer sustain a consistent flow of finely produced Heavy Metal, with distinctively powerful earworm-inducing harmonic choral melodies (best evidenced in “Fields Of Sorrow”) deftly woven together by incisive guitars executing irresistible headbanging riffs & surgical solos distinctly more dominant than the standard fare, as deftly displayed on the likes of “Gunman”, “The Face Of Silence”, “Vampire In Ghost Town” and “One Last Chance”. With each listen the overall consistency solidifies and the album becomes a satisfyingly steady flow of masterful Metal and magnificent melody, worthy of numerous repeat listens with no frills and no filler.

ORDEN OGAN take another epic step up the ladder to legend with the release of Gunmen and by this point one can comfortably expect nothing but quality & dependability in everything the band does, something far from common in today’s largely homogenized assembly line-mentality Metal industry. So do your civic duty by vocally supporting these rare breed bands like ORDEN OGAN and make a statement that Distinction, Inspiration & Commitment to Craft will always resonate the most in the hearts of the Metal-minded.

4.5 Out Of 5.0

Grab a copy of Gunmen in the KNAC.COM More Store right HERE.