Orbit Culture is a band poised. The Swedish quartet’s Century Media debut, ‘Death Above Life’, is not merely a statement of how far the band has come, but it is the sound of metal in the most modern sense. ‘This record represents change, a new beginning’, says guitarist, vocalist and songwriter, Niklas Karlsson. ‘It brings up a lot of good and bad emotions but it’s a big change for the better. It feels like a rebirth’. From the album’s scorching opener, ‘Inferna’ to its clench-fisted title track to the elegiac closer, ‘The Path I Walk’, it’s clear: Orbit Culture is at the top of their game. Produced by the band and mixed by Buster Odeholm (Vildhjarta, Humanity’s Last Breath, Thrown), ‘Death Above Life’ is a statement for metal: its present and future. It’s also a crucial next step for Orbit Culture as they continue to define themselves and metal, as a whole. ‘We play metal’, says Karlsson. ‘We have influences of Djent, influences of metalcore, melodic death metal. We stay true to ourselves, and I think people are hungry for that’.
