Orgy Of Carrion – Rusted Gateways [EP]

Commonly regarded as being one of the flag bearers of the resurgence of the Raw Black Metal scene from the second half of the 10’s, Orgy Of Carrion has been cranking out some crude and lo-fi affairs in their 10-year spanning career. To commemorate that memorable fact, the band returns with a new EP through their long-term companions of Perverse Homage.

While the general interest in the scene seems to be fading a bit, at least the times of outrageous Discogs-prices for tapes and vinyl records from labels like Black Gangrene, Skjold, the aforementioned Perverse Homage and the despicable Livor Mortis seems to be long gone, the music clearly lives on. Personally I am happy to see that it is now more about the music instead of the Instagram-generation of kids showing off what they have been spending their hard earned money on, propelling the prices of those items to insane heights.

Okay, now that I have that off my chest, back to the music. The ‘Death’s Magnificence’-demo from the summer of 2022 has been Orgy Of Carrion’s latest offering, so after a bit of silent period we finally get to chew on something new from the band. And, while waiting for one year and a half might not be all that long, it seems that it surely did something to the music. While the degree of harshness of the music differed quite a bit over the course of their extensive discography, the majority can be considered rather raw and sometimes even impenetrable.

Not so much the case with ‘Rusted Gateways’. Of course, the music is still to be labelled as Raw Black Metal in every sense of the word, but at the same time it is this duo’s most accessible work to date. I would not go as far as call is polished or clean, but for sure it benefits from a more open and structured sound. While the rather murky sound surely has its charm and had a certain sense of uncontrollable anger and darkness to it, ‘Rusted Gateways’ shows what the band was actually founded on: the legacy of Les Légions Noires. The cold and almost mechanical sound that characterizes the works of bands like Mütiilation or Belkètre is more evident now than it has ever been. Digital and cold, with equally icy screams and militant drumming, it is all there and reflects Orgy Of Carrion’s total contempt to musical finesse.

Whether this is to be the future direction the duo behind the band is pushing Orgy Of Carrion has yet to be seen, but for now ‘Rusted Gateways’ definitely shows that the band is more than the inextricable chaos that they presented on the vast part of their past discography. A more than interesting musical development that deserves to be kept an eye on.