Orb Of Torture
Cryogenic Cleansing // Four Elaborations Of Cold
6.2
Surprisingly not a double album but a mere four-track EP, the music on Orb Of Torture’s Cryogenic Cleansing / Four Elaborations of Cold is neither a match for its epic title nor the band’s brilliant moniker. Although hailing from Brussels, Orb Of Torture play a rather Americanized brand of technical death metal with a few progressive moments along the way. It’s all played pretty well, and wrapped up in a crisp and clear sound. Each of the four tracks on Cryogenic… are around five minutes long but written in such a way that they feel more like one twenty-minute piece. There’s a decent amount of variation in the riffs and tempos to be heard. The guitars especially are nicely textured, while velocity never reaches over-the-top levels and this allows the songs to sink in more effectively.
Orb Of Torture don’t really do much wrong on Cryogenic…, the main problem being that it simply isn’t remarkable in any way. The only real misstep is the brief utilization of that horribly dated ‘robot’ voice effect on “The Initiation Rite” (yes, the same one Meshuggah used on Catch 33). Also, the appearance of traditional percussion on “Antarctic Frequency Catharsis” is too fleeting to have any real impact and feels tacked-on. Overall, Cryogenic Cleansing / Four Elaborations of Cold is pretty good, and the brief running time works in its favor. As we all know though, ‘pretty good’ just doesn’t cut it when it comes to death metal - this year especially. Orb Of Torture continue to build upon their sound but at this point I can still only recommend this release to existing followers of the band.
Related
Orb Of TortureStereolith
9/7/2007