Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
It really does depend on how it actually ends, those Final Days of human influence on the planet, the last moments in which our stories, for good or for bad, can be told, how would we express them, how would we convey our apologies for all the wrongs we have committed, how much love we have for another unsuspecting soul, upon those final days, when the Earth cracks under the pressure of our existence, how do we, as a species, atone for our time in anything but a short, well-meaning goodbye.
The gunmen have had their say, but the Final Days and the word belong to the tremendous Orden Ogan as they combine a weaved narrative of our own folly with astounding music that captures the very soul of how we are in the end nothing but stories and tales.
Being larger than life is an asset, it is the very essence of getting your point and belief across in such a way that it is heard and understood, rather than being on mute in someone else’s subconscious, and the way the album is relayed, produced as a near concept album on humanity’s final days then there can be no doubting the sincerity, the anger, and the relentlessness of feeling that is at the very centre of this experience, an album that includes treasures such as the superb In The Dawn Of The AI, Let The Fire Rain, Alone In The Dark, Absolution For Our Final Days and Hollow, an album that reminds the listener of the true greats of the genre, an album that hits the nail on the head and doesn’t flinch from the sparks that fly.
The dark heart is not one to run from, it is the message of doom and finality that perhaps we might listen hardest and take note enough to withstand our own possible demise, for Orden Ogan have personified the inevitable, that humankind will not go out in a bang, or in a whimper, but in the concluding words of reaching out for an answer.
Orden Ogan releases Final Days on 12th March via AFM Records.