Orchid - Capricorn (2011) (Full Album)

San Francisco California based Orchid just set the bar a little higher for old school style doom metal bands. Blending heavy psych, occult rock, and doom metal into a brand new package, the quartet come from world renowned German doom metal specialist label, The Church Within.

Ever have THAT moment? You pick up a brand new album from a band you've never heard of. You've seen almost no one mention it. Looking at the cover you notice three things. One, that's a badass goat on the album cover. Two, the name of the band is Orchid and that was one fucking hell of a Black Sabbath song. Three, the band's logo is in old school style heavy psych font. Batting 1000 so far. You open that bad boy up and immediately within the first guitar riff you know you are going to love the sin out of this album. That's what Orchid's Capicorn was for me.

The mix is fuzzy and dirty by modern standards. Not quite a veil of obscuring smog that's been purposefully crafted to sludge the whole album in a production of thick sulfur and not the light mist of modern production imitating something from the golden days of rock and roll. The production is foggy and heavy, drenched in reverberation and thick in rumbling bass guitar. So authentic and wonderfully thunderous is the bass guitar that it needs to be pointed out. Often times the bassist seems to be possessed by some unworldly demon as the groovy, funky, heavy psychedelic bass strings just dazzle out sinister bass rhythms. Heavy metal bass has never tasted so delicious.

The guitar is 70′s Tony Iommi worship manifest with its blues rock flourishes, psychedelic rock tone and heavy metal low end. Vocals are beyond perfect with their sharp, silver tongued bite. Sometimes crooning with malevolent dictation and other times melodically droning with impending calamity. The drums ebb and flow with tactile cadence, quivering and rippling through each track with throbbing evolution. The Moog synthesizer which adds a rare and exquisite layer of psychedelic vapor in several tracks is definitely one of the most notable additions to the formula.

The songwriting is strong and instrumentation memorable. Each track on the LP is dynamic. All the songs seem to be standouts and I have to recommend this album to anyone interested in heavy metal and psychedelic rock.

Full album by Orchid! Enjoy Capricorn!

1. Eyes Behind the Wall - 0:00
2. Capricorn - 7:14
3. Black Funeral - 11:54
4. Masters Of It All - 18:22
5. Down Into the Earth - 24:59
6. He Who Walks Alone - 31:24
7. Cosmonaut of three - 38:13
8. Electric Father - 43:59
9. Albatross - 51:17

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