Album Review: Orden Ogan - The Order Of Fear
Reviewed by Chris Taylor
Power Metal can be many things, but if there is one thing it will always be known for its catchy, stadium worthy anthems. To find new ways to keep your music varied whilst sticking to the rudiments of the sub-genre is a tall order for any band, however Orden Ogan have always continuously managed to keep themselves from feeling stale across their career.
While checking that all important box of having catchy choruses beyond count, Orden Ogan keep fans coming back with album spanning narratives, and a rare ability of making each album feel distinct from ones that came before.
Orden Ogan’s last album, Final Days, was one of the best power metal albums that year with tight musicianship and huge melodies even by the band’s own standard.
The Order of Fear takes on a slightly different approach, the songs are shorter, punchier and the instrumentation is slightly heavier than what has come before. That being said, before you’re halfway through the first song Kings of the Underworld it’s everything you listen to Orden Ogan for with a rousing chorus that makes your hairs stand on end. The Order of Fear doesn’t mess about and grabs you right from the get go.
The band have professed that this album is ‘a lesson in dark power metal’. We do get a glimpse of the heaviest side of Orden Ogan sporadically, one of the earliest being the track Moon Fire. With its brooding intro and huge stompy chorus it’s one of the weightiest songs on the album, though a cheeky key change for the final chorus keeps things from getting too serious.
A darker tone in the music requires a darker narrative to accompany it. Orden Ogan have always been about big stories across their albums and Order of Fear is no exception. The central character Vale is betrayed by the Order of Fear who wish to use a curse to destroy humanity. It’s a bleak setup to the album that suitably fits the music itself.
That being said, while the darker tone is the unique framing that sets The Order of Fear apart from Orden Ogan’s back catalogue, the vast majority of the music here is exactly what fans expect from the band. In a subgenre where the key trait are those massive choruses it is continually impressive that Orden Ogan keep managing to write some of the most stirring anthems of any band in metal. Whether it’s Levermann’s iconic vocals or the trick where the choruses will often bring the tempo down slightly, giving them more impact, it is the best part of this band and this album.
Picking a highlight is tough given every track has its big epic moments. Even the ballad My Worst Enemy grows into something so huge by the end. Any of these songs could easily become live staples. That being said it is hard to beat a longer and more epic power metal song. Anthem to the Darkside and The Long Darkness demonstrate how progressive this music can be. The latter track especially is a worthy closing song with the biggest scope on the album and one of the most emotional pieces of music of the year so far.
The phrase “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” is probably apt here. Fans of Orden Ogan and their stratospheric music can rest easy that The Order of Fear continues to bring everything you love about the band. Its darker tone gives it a slight unique edge over their previous albums, while still maintaining the band’s core sound that has kept them as one of Power Metal’s most enjoyable bands for all these years.
Full of anthems, an epic dark narrative, and so much power. What’s not to love?
