Yesterday’s post bought with it a package containing the Order of Voices album which instantly proved to be of interest thanks to its artwork which is beautifully rendered and recalls the packaging of Smashing Pumpkin’s ‘Machina’ album. One listen and I was hooked and it is no word of a lie to say that I listened to this album all the way through five times in a row without skipping a track or interrupting the listening pleasure by stopping to write a review. A day later and the album’s charms have not abated, but it is time to press on with the actual writing of this review and for the large part this is going to be an exercise in my uncovering appropriate superlatives with which to praise this album.
Opening with an understated guitar part, the initial vocal line recalls nothing so much as Placebo before the gently rolling drums and Perfect circle-esque guitars slowly build up an impressive head of steam, culminating in a steely chorus with syncopated rhythms and off-kilter guitars stabbing out of the dark while Leigh Oates’ vocals which started out razor thin thicken up to an impressive roar as the track demands. Recorded and produced with admirable clarity, ‘for me’ is the perfect introduction to the melodic, yet hard rocking world of Order of voices who prove to be one of the best alternative bands to have surfaced in many a year over the course of this forty minute album. Certainly one of the best things about this band is the way that each track breathes and develops – nothing overdone or left to chance and the dynamic between the gentle false beginning of ‘for me’ and the aching, violent, melodic main body of the song is a perfect example of the way the band can snap from beautiful to brutal at the drop of a hat. As impressive are the faintly progressive overtones of ‘Burn black light’ which features insistently rhythmic guitars and another strong vocal performance which recalls Polish progressive rock act Believe on a more alternative trip. With a strong chorus to match augment the verse, Order of voices achieve the feat of taking vaguely progressive rock and making it both accessible and highly memorable to the extent that you may well find yourself humming tracks in the street without even realising it, a trick rarely pulled and last seen effectively on A Perfect Circle’s debut – an album that this could readily, and favourably, be compared to.
Having drawn you in, the band slow the pace with the bass-led, Porcupine tree referencing ‘Reaching down’ which features a wailing guitar lead and syncopated rhythms that completely fail to prepare you for the onslaught of distorted guitar that slams in before a deceptively quiet verse lets you drift away to the perfectly-phrased vocals. ‘What I breathe’ develops the band’s sound still further with a gentle vocal harmony bravely opening the track before a lilting guitar takes over and the song slowly evolves from these elements veering between Audioslave at their most tender and Keith Caputo’s material from ‘Die laughing’. As a result, when the crushing conclusion does arrive it sounds utterly monumental and you’re once again left stunned at how readily the band can shift mood and sound without sounding incoherent. ‘Forgiveness’ is a rather more straight forward rocker that gets the heads shaking with its palm-muted chords and taut-necked vocals before ‘don’t falter’ offers up some beautiful guitar work and stylish drumming once again emphasising (in no bad way) that Porcupine Tree connection. ‘Then fall’ is a softer, more introverted track that provides the foil to the previous tracks splenetic energy with its rich chords and ‘into the ocean’ is a beautiful coda which segues from the previous song and sees the album out on an emotional high. It’s a fitting end to a wonderful CD that incorporates all the best elements of hard-rock, alternative, post-rock and progressive to create a blend of amazing music that cheerfully defies categorisation.
Overall, Order of voices have crafted a beautiful album from a variety of influences with intelligence and passion and if you are after a band that offers the very best aspects of what an alternative rock band should be, then you need look no further. A true, understated gem.
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