NEW MUSIC REVIEW: ‘Death Above Life’ Is A Musically, Emotionally Powerful New Offering From ORBIT CULTURE

By: Philip Sayblack

This year has been one heck of an age for metal and hard rock fans.  Over the course of this year, no fewer than 30 great records have been released from the hard rock and metal community, not the least notable being Dream Theater’s new album, Parasomnia.  The band also has a new live recording due out Nov. 28.  This year has also seen notable new releases from the likes of Machine Head, Whitechapel, Grave Digger, and Arch Enemy.  Very soon, Testament’s latest album will add to that list, too. 
Orbit Culture also added to that list Friday with the release of its latest album, Death Above Life.  The band’s fifth album and ninth overall studio recording (counting its EPs), this 53-minute record makes a solid case for the top spot on this year’s list of the year’s top new hard rock and metal albums as its five current singles have already shown through their musical and lyrical content.  They certainly are just part of the overall picture that proves why the album deserves that spot.  ‘The Storm,’ which serves as part of the album’s second half, is yet another example of the record’s strength.  It will be discussed shortly.  ‘Inferna,’ the album’s opener, is another example of the strength of the album.  It will be discussed a little later.  ‘Inside The Waves,’ another of the early entries in this 10-song record, is another solid example of why Death Above Life stands out so well in this year’s field of new hard rock and metal albums.  IT will also be discussed later.  Each item noted is important in its own way to the whole of the record.  When these songs and the album’s current singles are considered collectively and that whole alongside the two remaining songs, the whole makes Death Above Life not only some of Orbit Culture’s best work to date but one of this year’s best hard rock and metal album so far, if not the best so far.
Death Above Life has been one of the most highly anticipated new hard rock and metal albums of 2025, and as its five current singles have already proven, the wait was well worth it.  They are only a part of the picture of how much the album has to offer hard rock and metal fans.  ‘The Storm,’ one part of the nearly hourlong album’s second half, is another example of how much this album has to offer audiences.  The song’s musical arrangement sits at its center.  Right from the outset of the four-minute-plus composition, a comparison to works from Orbit Culture’s fellow Swedes in Amon Amarth comes to mind what with the guttural vocals, and distinct melodic death metal guitar arrangement.  Even with the comparison in mind, the overall arrangement still manages to maintain its own identity separate from anything crafted by Amon Amarth, showing even more why the song is another positive addition to Death Above Life. 
The lyrical content that accompanies the song’s musical arrangement makes for its own share of engagement.  Like so much of the lyrical material in this record, the content here is somewhat nihilistic.  In other words, it is not for everyone.  The imagery that it conjures is like something out of the book of Revelation.  This as front man Niklas Karlsson sings/screams, “The storm/Calling to gather all its forces/This storm/Darkness assemble/We swore/Fires’ll rise in Heaven’s kingdoms/You pray/Nothing will stop these winds from blowing/The storm/Welcome the world’s end/Beneath the oceans/Through the mist and darker waters/I saw the heavens/Rising tall above the graves/Across the wastelands/Through dust and flames of old sails/I saw the dragon/Rising tall above the Earth/The night is calling all of our forces/We march/Flames in the sky/Light up our forces/This void/Pulling the threads of our existence/The winds/Carrying the beast upon its shoulders/In war/Like it or not/You’re in the trenches/The sword/Nothing will stop these men from roaming/Now rise/Welcome the world’s end.”  Karlsson continues in the song’s second verse, “The price of loss is fatal/Indeed, we gave a fight/The price of a thousand soldiers/Left in sands/In the mist of rain and thunder/Indeed, we gave him hell/In horizon/More they come now/Help yourself.”  There is almost a storytelling aspect here about the forces of good and evil fighting.  That mention of the soldiers “left in sands/In the mist of rain and thunder” almost sounds like commentary about the men who died on the shores of Normandy or Iwo Jima.  Odds are that was not what the band was aiming for here, but either way, this seeming encouragement for people to stand up to evil is certain to get audiences thinking.  This and the song’s intense (and familiar style) musical arrangement makes clear why this song is yet another example of how much Orbit Culture’s new album has to offer.
On another note is the album’s opener, ‘Inferna.’  Coming in at just under seven minutes, this song is a powerful first impression for the album.  The band’s familiar death metal leanings are there.  At the same time, listeners could argue that there is also a hint of some black metal guitar work here.  The blend of the screams and clean vocals make for their own unique touch to the whole.  The approach of having the “clean” vocals in the choruses and the screams in the verses makes for such a powerful contrast here.
The lyrical content featured in this song is just as heavy as that in ‘The Storm’ just in its own way.  In the case of this song, the theme seems to be one of someone battling his or her inner demons.  This as it states from tis outset, “The riot starts/I fall/There is no bottom/No peace to obtain/Just blood and the gore/Lost in the part/In siren’s brawl/The flames spread/Leaving wounds on my skin/I succumb to endless damnation/I’m leaving the pain/Can’t say why/Insanity is crawling deep within me/I’m leaving the pain/And I don’t know why/Calamity is crawling deep within me/My life/It is all forgotten/Just chaos and pain/Just cut off the cord/Left in the dark of hospitals/No place to hide/Leaving pills on your bed/I succumb to endless damnation.”  This certainly comes across as someone battling mental health issues.  If that is in fact that case, it is not the only time in this record that the band tackles the topic, either.  It is just presented in its own unique fashion.  The song continues in similar fashion, lyrically speaking, in its second verse, stating at one point, “I’m forever locked in this cage/I’m forever locked in this hell/Forever.”  Again, here is what certainly comes across as that battle with self.  If, once again, that is the case, then this is a theme (and delivery fashion thereof) that is certain to resonate with audiences.
‘Inside The Waves,’ the third of Death Above Life’s entries, is yet one more example of how much the album has to offer audiences.  In the case of this song, it honestly comes across as the most radio friendly of the album’s entries.  The Amon Amarth-esque guitar and bass is present once again but alongside the distinct vocal delivery (which are so similar to that of Dry Kill Logic front man Cliff Rigano), the whole is so subtly different from the rest of the album’s entries that it proves to be just heavy enough to fit into so many active rock radio programmers’ criteria for airplay.  That is just this critic’s view.
As with the album’s opener, this song’s lyrical theme seems to hint at one’s personal mental health battle.  This as Karlsson sings/screams in the song’s chorus, “Inside the waves/I’m meant to be/But drift away/I meant to cut these ties in two/I want to feel it all/All the pain/I meant to cut these ties in two/I’ll break like you/These scars I hide/No refuge from the I’ll keep what’s mine/No shelter in the obsolescence.”  This is a heavy statement.  Karlsson further adds, “It’s all that’s left of me/I’m lost in the sin of my heart/It lies in the ocean with me/The Swirls of currents pull me/Down now beneath the sea/I find it hard to breathe now/I find it hard to see all/I’ll be facing the rest of my broken life.”  This is a sense that so many people have at those lower moments.  Listeners in that heavy space may hear these words and know they are not alone, hopefully offering hope that they are not alone, that they can relate to this situation.  In the end, that understanding can help them to push on.  Keeping that in mind, this song, and the emotional storm that people feel in such a situation illustrated through the song’s musical arrangement makes this song yet one more example of how much the song has to offer along with the rest of the album’s entries.  When it and the other songs examined here are considered alongside the album’s singles and its two remaining songs, the whole makes Death Above Life a record that while maybe not for everyone lyrically, is still an intense work that every metal and hard rock fan will appreciate.
Death Above Life, the latest album from Orbit Culture, is a heavy, intense new offering from the established melodic death metal outfit.  Its musical and lyrical content alike make it one of this year’s most standout offerings so far, as its singles (which make up half of the album) have already shown.  The songs examined here further make that clear.  When that whole is considered with the album’s two remaining songs, the whole makes Death Above Life one more of the best of this year’s new hard rock and metal albums so far.
Death Above Life is available now through Century Media.  More information on the album is available along with Orbit Culture’s latest news at:
Website: https://deathabovelife.com
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/orbitculture