Orden Ogan – Gunmen


Credit where credit is due. It’s not often that genuine contenders rear their heads once their career is already up and running… the anointed have usually been identified and lauded from early whether in sports, art, music, whatever, it is rare for a band to be established and then to suddenly stick their head above the parapet seemingly as if from out of nowhere as one of the best there is. With Gunmen (AFM), though, Orden Ogan have done just that, the Germans producing one of this years’ best Power/Heavy Metal offerings.

It’s such a welcome and pleasing step up that the overall quality of Gunmen must be celebrated. Always polished musicians, this time around there is added urgency, push and energy to every track, Dirk Meyer-Berhorn providing a relentless double-bass momentum, while taking on dual glory, guitar/vocalist Seeb Levermann steps out of Hansi Kursch’s shadow to stand in the spotlight with a flawless mix of tone, melody and hooks.

Because some of these vocal lines cannot be ignored: from the symphonic anthemy of ‘Fields of Sorrow’ to the tongue-in-cheek ‘Vampire In Ghost Town’ that, through a face-wide grin, forces involuntary collaboration, to the melodiously pacy and Liv Kristine enhanced. ‘Come With Me To The Other Side’, Orden Ogan have got bangers for you. ‘Down Here (Wanted Dead or Alive) blasts by, all muscularity and chorus.

But choruses are just one string to their bow. It goes without saying that, within the realms of Power Metal, the playing is always exemplary, but Orden Ogan don’t forget to maintain vigour throughout; most of their songs extend beyond five minutes, so they’re aware to keep pushing the ante, spicing things up with bombastic breakdowns, unyielding and persistent drum battery and classy earworms, exemplified in the majestic ‘The Face Of Silence’. Above all, Gunmen is infectious and relentlessly enjoyable.

On previous releases it was too easy to cast Orden Ogan to one side as, perhaps harshly, an inferior Blind Guardian with flecks of Sonata Arctica, but, with Gunmen things feel different like the band have planted their flag and are now their own, highly enjoyable and notable entity. And one that should well benefit from, and see widespread success on the back of, a genuinely impressive album.

8.0/10

STEVE TOVEY