Orgy
- Vapor Transmission
by
Buster
Cherry
Hey, call me a sellout, a traitor, or whatever
the hell you want to call me, but Orgy has won me over with the bands second
musical offering “Vapor Transmission”. I initially passed this band
over because of all the hype and the hoopla surrounding what I thought
of as a record company “band manufacturing” job, designed to sell the s***
out of records to 13 year old girls who subscribe to tiger beat magazine
and talk about how “hot” they think their favorite band member is.
Now I’m finding that Orgy has a very large and loyal, worldwide following
of fans in a wide-ranging
age group, who are into the bands eclectic mix of futuristic imagery, and
electronic tinged alternative metal. “Electronic tinged alternative
metal?” That’s a pretty futuristic sounding description of the bands
music itself, isn’t it?
The band exploded onto the scene in 1997
with their debut album “Candyass”, on which the band garnered a certified
hit with their cover of British New wave band from the eighties, New Order’s
“Blue Monday”. On top of that, Orgy was hand picked by Korn for the
opening slot on Korn’s Family Values Tour, and was subsequently the first
signing to Korn’s very own Elementree Records label. Orgy guitarist
Ryan Shuck coincidentally co-wrote Korn’s “Blind” with Jonathan Davis.
There’s no denying Shuck, and the rest of Orgy’s formidable songwriting
and playing on their sophomore effort. Orgy’s new album is a musical revelation,
even if it is in the form of something far off the beaten musical path.
It’s good to welcome any new music into our lives that has what it takes
to stir us up inside.
I’m almost tempted to call “Vapor Transmission”
a Rock Opera, but with my informal training in music terminology and my
refusal to dissect and petty-analyze musical genres, I’ll play it safe
and call “Vapor Transmission” what I know it is, an incredible “concept”
album. Once you’re able to look past the make-up and the impeccable
hair-do’s of the members of Orgy and finally get to flipping “Vapor Transmission”
onto your CD player, you will be pleasantly surprised to find incredible
music that would be equally at home blaring out of the wall of speakers
at any rave, or pumping your fist in the air hearing the band perform these
songs live. There’ll be inevitable comparisons of the similar vocal
style of vocalist Jay Gordon to those of Marilyn Manson and David Bowie
for years to come, especially to Manson’s “Mechanical Animals”, and David
Bowie’s “Scary Monsters”. Orgy could have gotten away with calling
this album “Mechanical, Futuristic Monsters”.
What’s so bad about having influences as
great as those two anyway? Everybody has to learn from somebody,
and those are two of the greatest. Orgy has enough originality in
their sound to make the listener sit up and take notice. There’s
Jay’s vocals, guitar-synthesist Amir Derakh’s swirling sound, drummer Bobby
Hewitt sounds like he’s pounding the drumbeats on a railroad tie with a
sledgehammer, and guitarist Shuck and bassist Paige Haley provide some
pretty heavy rhythmic backbone to complete the Orgy sound. The reason this
isn’t Rock Opera is because the songs aren’t telling the stories of different
characters that make up the bigger overall picture. But, with song
titles like “The Odyssey”, “Opticon”, and “Re-Creation” I’d say the concept
here is definitely a futuristic one.
Vapor
Transmission Tracks
1. Vapor Transmission
2. Suckerface
3. The Odyssey
4. Opticon
5. Fiction (Dreams in Digital)
6. Eva
7. 107
8. Dramatica
9. Eyes
10. Saving Faces
11. Re-Creation
12. Chasing Sirens
13. Where’s Gerrold
The
Band
Amir
Derakh
Paige
Haley
Jay
Gordon
Ryan
Shuck
Bobby
Hewitt
Want
more?
Purchase
Vapor Transmission and the debut CD online!
Visit
the Official Site at OrgyMusic.com
Artwork and photo taken from
the official Orgy web site. All Rights Reserved by the copyright owner
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