Gli Orient Express si esibiranno anche quest'anno al festival "La Valle dell'Ofanto - Premio Nazionale Alex Baroni" Martedì 15 Luglio in piazza terme a Margherita di Savoia(Fg).
Postate tre nuove recensioni da Norvegia, Svizzera e Canada.
Imothep.no
Beginning in early 2002, the quartet Orient Express continually clawed their way up the Italian scene due to a tireless live schedule, winning support from the fans and media alike. They’ve contributed songs to four diverse compilation albums, including one as a tribute to Pantera. Which would make you believe Orient Express play an aggressive, groove laden form of metal- but how wrong would you be as their reference points move more towards 70’s psychedelic rock and slight grunge affinities. Bassist Wito also holds the microphone duties, and his voice captivates with a Tool meets Jane’s Addiction and King’s X vibe. Drummer Pablo bashes his kit with an early Pearl Jam tendency, throwing down some odd fill beats amidst the thunderous rhythmic undercurrent. The oddball texture of synth player Blondy gives "Illusion" more of a trance-like appearance, as he’s unafraid to throw down some feedback laden loops in tracks like "Madness" or "Prison Head".
There are times where I believe the repetitive refrains and choruses can drive a person to madness – so I hope that in the future Orient Express try to cut the arrangements down to bare bones necessity and leave the jamming to the stage presentation. Otherwise, "Illusion" carries with it the goods to promise an album equally steeped in power trio ethics as well as Seattle laden bar scene wonderment. Pick clicks include the sparsely eerie "Rats Know" and the bass propelling eight minute plus epic closer "Euphoria". If MTV still had a buzz bin video artist to watch for, Orient Express would surely be riding that train thanks to this effort.
Gryphonmetal.ch
Mkm (New Dawn series) presents us another new band that began to play in 2002 and, after a demo and some appearances in compilations, comes out with its full-length.
The band plays psychedelic dark-rock and, all in all, this album is sufficient considering that this is the first great opportunity for the band!
In my opinion, even if some compositions are mediocre and if I don’t appreciate the sound of distorted guitar and some choices concerning arrangements, the band gives the best of itself in the slow moments and is great to listen to the first track “Eternal Child” that is a very hypnotic, full of uneasiness in which the band is able to give emotions…
Orient Express combine dark rock with psychedelic rock. Though this lets me remind of many bands, I find a certain kind of originality that is an element to appreciate, even if there’s much to work concerning compositive approach and sound.
The compositions are the result of the union of the elements above mentioned but listening to all the albums it’s impossible not to feel a certain sense of unfinished work for many reasons:
A negative note goes to the not good vocal recording lines that are often wrapped up by the music …and also the vocal lines in themselves should be improved, the singer is not always able to give emphasis to the songs even if he gets a good voice for this kind of music. The prolix compositions not always result up to the task, and sometimes the band doesn’t find a good groove.
Otherwise, a good note goes to the use of electronic elements that in my opinion are the add value for the songs…just few valid electronics adds…listen to the good “Illusions” to understand what I say.
Good song is the track n°10 "Euphoria" that still gets elements from dark-rock and it’s able to give emotions thanks to the good decaying melody. In this case the singer results to find a very good mood in the vocal line. The production is good. In conclusion …The road is still long , but I hope to listen to a better next release.
Metal-observer.com
Italy’s ORIENT EXPRESS got its start in 2002. In 2003, they released a demo and then went on tour with various festivals and in support of various bands, mostly Punk. At some point their membership grew from three to five. In 2006 they recorded their full-length debut, dubbed “Illusion” and released on the independent Italian label My Kingdom Music.
Almost immediately I’m reminded of modern ANATHEMA. There’s the same sort of dark Alternative just barely heavy enough to maybe be of interest to the Metal crowd perhaps. Like SEROTONAL, they’re a bit more electric, eliciting an image of a muggy summer day in sweltering urban decay. Still, that’s only about half the sound that we’ll get on the album. At the 3:45 mark the guitar turns discordant, the drumming turns up, and by “Madness” we’re in a world that marries the discordant meanderings and chaotic over-drumming of Post-Hardcore or Post-Metal with the somehow-introspective nonsense of Pscyhedelia. It’s an interesting sound, I’ll give them that.
And thusly the album progesses—the softer, cleanly picked Alternative parts interspersed with Post-Psychedelia. If you’ve listened to the first two songs, you’ve practically heard the entire album; ORIENT EXPRESS has found a sound, but they haven’t done anything with it. It’s temporarily interesting, but since the songs have no individual personality, the album as a whole goes nowhere fast. Fifty-four minutes slow to a crawl as the listener keeps swearing that he’s already heard this part.
I don’t foresee this album being of much interest to the Metal community. Give it instead to the Art and Indy Rockers who want a soundtrack to a bad day.
