Orden Ogan – Eastern Hope (2010) Review

Oden Ogan is a power metal outfit from Arnsberg, Germany. Their sound immediately brings to mind Wuthering Heights, Kuias, and sometimes even Machine Men.

This album is text book power metal (epic melodies, keyboards, solid clean vocals, and great harmony). The production has an extremely modern sound to it. Guitars are thick and crunchy, vocals are crisp, and the orchestrations are clean.

All in all, there is not a lot that separates this from most of the other power metal that is out. The main reason I like it is the lack of cheese. There is still some cheese, I mean, it wouldn’t be power metal without some epic cheese. Let me try to describe this “cheese”. The music has a beauty to it but not like the beauty I hear in a black metal album. When I listen to something like klabautamann I hear beauty that makes me imagine a baby animal carcass rotting into the forest as new grass grows, nourished by the decaying flesh. Orden Ogan is beautiful like shiny girl hair. Get it?

It is worth listening to and is solid all the way through. If you like it I recommend checking out Kuias or Wuthering Heights. I’m not much of a power metal guy, so feel free to let me know who else has a good sound.

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