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"Provider of a progressive art-rock always as original and classy as ever, O.R.K. signs a third album that particularly cultivates its emotional intensity while being its most accessible opus."
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4/5
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With their first album "Inflamed Rides" O.R.K. had laid the foundations for a particularly interesting original and complex progressive rock art, followed very closely by "Soul Of An Octopus" two years later. Having finally found refuge with the right label for their music, KScope, the Italian-American-Australians are releasing their third album "Ramagehead".
Colin Edwin insists on the fact that O.R.K. is a group in its own right, and that the distance between the four members, scattered between the United States, England and Italy, has not mitiged their desire to continue giving life to their very special music. We can only agree with him when we hear the cohesion that emerges in this third album, which still has the band's own signature. In "Ramagehead" O.R.K. strikes a balance between electric and acoustic tonalities so that if O.R.K.'s writing has been nourished previously by dissonance and experimentation, sometimes making it difficult to access, the compositions here shine with great fluidity and melodies that can be assimilated from the first listening.
The switch from "Soul Of An Octopus" to "Ramagehead" is a continuation with two tracks that give an alternative art-rock dynamic to the album that is both accessible and powerful with the dark and lively "Kneel To Nothing" followed by a very creative approach on the Crimson-ish arpeggios and natural harmonics of the grungy "Signals Erased". From then on and until the end of the record O.R.K. build on original foundations a music more focused on emotional intensity, whose main vector is singing. The most obvious demonstration is the dark "Black Blooms" magnified by the presence of a bewitching Serj Tankian. This participation sets the tone for the vocal dimension of the entire album and Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari draws inspiration from it in his amazing interventions at the crossroads of Chris Cornell and Jeff Buckley ('Signals Erased','Beyond Sight').
Beyond Sight' introduces this more organic part of "Ramagehead", the one that displays the most intimate facet of O.R.K. with an alternation of moments that enjoy a certain form of temperance and even delicacy ('Beyond Sight', 'Time Corroded', the heartbreaking 'Black Blooms' and 'Some Other Rainbow Part 1'), and more elaborate pieces ('Down The Road' which celebrates the wedding of The Pineapple Thief and Steven Wilson, the dynamic 'Strangled Words' and the brilliant 'Some Other Rainbow Part 2'). The regular use of acoustic guitar arpeggios and mid-tempi formats, combined with a variety of arrangements (electronic for 'Down The Road', violins and violin in 'Time Corroded' and 'Some Other Rainbow Part 2'), provide the framework for these compositions.
While remaining the unique signatory of his musical imprint, O.R.K. adds another dimension to the music he has already proposed in his two previous albums, already different on several points. "Ramagehead" is not an easily accessible album because the quartet is still a writer of demanding harmonies but it remains nevertheless the most affordable and probably the most intense O.R.K. album.
- Official website
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TRACK LISTING:
01. Kneel to Nothing 02. Signals Erased 03. Beyond Sight 04. Black Blooms 05. Time Corroded 06. Down the Road 07. Some Other Rainbow (Pt. One) 08. Strangled Words 09. Some Other Rainbow (Pt. Two)
LINEUP:
Carmelo Pipitone: Guitares Colin Edwin: Basse Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari: Chant / Claviers Pat Mastelotto: Batterie Serj Tankian: Chant / Invité
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(0) MIND(S) FROM OUR READERS
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(1) COMMENT(S)
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READERS
-/5 (0 view(s))
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STAFF:
4/5 (2 view(s))
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