I like Orphans; they’re fast, frantic, and aggressive. ‘Pack Mentality’ manages to portray this in a concise, constructed and interesting way. Orphans are controlled chaos; they give enough without ever taking it too far.

The vocals of this release demonstrate intensity and their projection manifest such power and emotion which just spills out. ‘Blood Of The Father’ kicks off as a seemingly mellow offering until that vocal line comes alive with such confidence, it is a vicious style which is done to a tee on this release.

<a href=“http://iloveorphans.bandcamp.com/album/pack-mentality” data-mce-href=“http://iloveorphans.bandcamp.com/album/pack-mentality”>Pack Mentality by Orphans</a>

On the flipside the spoken parts provide an appealing contrast, too much aggression could be too bombarding on the ear so it is a welcoming, stylistic move and one which demonstrates the control this band have over their sound.

The instrumentation is no different, it provides the backbone of that ferocity however it stops it from spilling over and becoming a cacophony. Closing track ‘White Guilt’ shows how the vocals follow the same melodic structure of the guitars, it contains and controls whilst still allowing it to portray itself. There are some great displays of technicality, the riffs are fast but fluent, never allowing to go over the top 

Orphans first release has left me wanting more; the four tracks show a band that despite their infancy as a group, are already surpassing expectations. The production, musicianship and creativity is spot on. I just hope that their next offering is a lot longer and shows progress because Orphans have really impressed me. 

4/5

‘Pack Mentality’ by Orphans is out on Never Lost Records.

Orphans links: Facebook|Bandcamp

Words by Bert Maddison (@bertmaddison)