Skip to main content

LOST ORB - Low Ebb's Lament review

I often lambaste the stoner metal genre for being derivative, lacking in the riff department, and just plain boring. And yet, in spite of my preconceived judgement, sometimes there comes along a band....that completely validates my assessment. The offenders in this case is Lost Orb, whose 17-minute magnum opus Low Ebb's Lament boasts of a compelling backstory, super heavy production and an impressive personnel of musicians, all of which should have set them up for a more favorable review.

Before I go throw the whole box of Franzia at Lost Orb, let's examine the pieces here. 

Lost Orb is the project of Chris West, also of fabulously-named psych rock groups Stubb, Trippy Wicked & The Cosmic Children Of Knight, and Landskap. This song was written and recorded around 2012-13, right before Mr. West took a hiatus due to mental health issues. Criticism aside, I'm glad he's in a better place, and this recording will see a proper cassette tape release via Giganto Records on the Necrosexual's own birthday(!) of September 20.

This album describes itself as a musical odyssey, but it's more like a van ride through a pumpkin patch. The psychedelic tendencies of stoner metal had me hoping for a lightning bolt to my third eye, to shock my synapses into high gear. Alas, this is not one of these albums. 

Low Ebb's Lament sounds like a group of seasoned musicians jamming on Sleep-inspired riffs. There's not a single lyric in the entire 17-minute song, but Chantal from Vodun provides the oohs and ahhhs of vocal harmonies. She's got a great voice, and her arrangements add a dimension of complexity to music that is otherwise, well, flat. But the absence of lyrics reduce her vocal contributions to garnish on a heady instrumental already lacking in meat. 
Low Ebb's Lament possesses crisp production. It certainly sounds like plenty of resources were allotted to the mixing and mastering for a cavernous profile. It's a shame Lost Orb didn't put more effort into important things like, you, know, good songwriting. The album also boasts of the Mos Generator drummer Tony Reed on percussion duties, although his presence offers little to make the product any more engrossing.

Low Ebb's Lament the musical of an abstract oil painting, the kind you might be see in some bougie restaurant, a swirling landscape of colors on a massive canvas. But without any definitive form or shape, or specifics, it's difficult to be excited about the object at hand. Lost Orb create a sonic landscape with this recording, just not one I'm particularly excited to ever visit again. It goes to say I'm also just one showghoul, with specific tastes in music, and definitely no stranger to having my own records on the receiving end of less than enthusiastic reviews on a regular basis. Maybe I'm just missing the point. Perhaps you want a certain ambiance with your stoner rock to meditate on and set the mood. I'll stick to Yanni.

In the end, it was I who lamented over 17 minutes of wasted potential. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Interview with Pan-Amerikan Native Front

War is coming! Pan-Amerikan Native Front is among the fierce bands who lead the charge of in digenous black metal in the Americas. This group is fronted by its enigmatic chief, Kurator of War. Their 2016 full length Tecumseh's War  beats like a war club through the life and conflict of its namesake. Earlier this year, Pan-Amerikan Native Front released the Native Amerikan Black Metal split w ith the Ifernach, which is already sold out of of vinyls their bandcamp . Behold this interview I conducted with Kurator Of War.  Tecumseh's War was inspired by the life of Tecumseh, and it's a blistering musical journey. What was your inspiration for the Native Amerikan Black Metal split, lyrically, thematically and musically? The split album continued to retain a conceptual and storytelling approach, much like Tecumseh's War, and with a similar range of songwriting styles I implemented with the previous album. When Ifernach and I began focusing on themes we naturally landed on ...
Post a Comment
Read more

215 OR DIE: An interview with Sonja's Melissa Moore

Melissa Moore is a Philadelphia-based guitarist who currently leads the classic metal band Sonja. Previously, she's shredded on ax duty in bands like Rumplestiltskin Grinder and Absu. Moore also runs Toxic Femme, a clothing and apparel company that brings light to trans, non-binary and LGBT+ people via heavy metal fashion. On the musical front, Sonja released a promising two-song digital album  Nylon Nights/Wanting Me Dead  last year, which will win over fans of Mercyful Fate, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. I present to you, a dark transmission with the voice of Sonja, Melissa Moore.  Hell-O Melissa (in my best King Diamond voice). How the hell are YOU? Not bad. Thank you for realizing the Mercyful Fate reference in my name. How do you describe the musical experience that is Sonja, in your own words? What can someone expect at a Sonja concert?   Trans femme fronted dark heavy metal that wishes it was death rock. If Lana Del Rey was the singer of Manowar, I ...
2 comments
Read more

OG Blasphemy: An interview with Profanatica's Paul Ledney

Profanatica is widely recognized as the first United States black metal band. Building on the foundation set forth by Venom and Hellhammer, Profanatica has spewed a rambunctious attack on all that is holy since 1990. Their antics on and off stage gained the same notoriety as their hellish music. While their European counterparts posed for photographs with candelabras and swords, Profanatica did photos with blood dripping from their limp dicks. Grainy VHS from the early 90s interviews show them giggling as they rip pages out of a bible and eat them. In many ways, Profanatica is one of the metal bands to become a meme. The recordings of what was to become their first album was destroyed by spiteful band mates before it was ever released in 1990 - read on to find out more about that fateful event. It was nearly two decades later that Profanatica birthed their first full length  Profanatitas De Domanatias in 2007. Rotting Incarnation Of God  is Profanatica's upcoming full len...
Post a Comment
Read more