Orphans

Pack Mentality EP

Written by: PP on 13/05/2013 21:37:08

It's a mystery to me that a band like Orphans hasn't been spotted by the bigger audiences yet. Word of mouth is clearly not working as it should here, because "Pack Mentality" is exactly the leap forward in songwriting prowess that I predicted the band to take after hearing preceding EP "Just Ad Bello". Where they previously sounded almost identical to UnderOATH circa "Define The Great Line" era, the band have now forged a more convincing identity to themselves, now channeling everything from post-hardcore to screamo to mathcore on this four-track EP. There are even a few melodic notes from 'the wave' scene as evidenced by the opening notes to "Blood of The Father", before it descends directly into their angular, twisted interpretation of mathcore meets screamo chaos.

The performance of the songs on "Pack Mentality" deserves some accolades for being so passionate; it's rare to hear records that have this much urgency emitted by every member in the unit and not just through the vocals. A great example is "Bengals", which mirrors "Art Damage"-era Fear Before The March Of Flames with its nonsensical screaming and utterly, utterly enjoyable levels of pure instrumental chaos and unpredictable scales left and right. There's a bit of mathcore involved in places, which sounds a little bit like Norma Jean on their earlier records, and it all builds up into a beautiful, halfway melodic juxtaposition of ringing feedback, subtly melodic riffs, and mathcore/screamo insanity.

And that is how "Pack Mentality" gives Orphans their newfound identity. Instead of sounding like a carbon copy of UnderOATH, they now sound like the product of their many influences, and the record is much better off because of that. This is solid, and it should be longer than just four tracks and 15 minutes.

Download: Dark Satanic Mills, Bengals
For the fans of: UnderOATH, Norma Jean, Fear Before The March Of Flames
Listen: Facebook

Release date 06.11.2012
Self-Released

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