by Justin Gaines
– Sr. Columnist —
German Power Metal band Orden Ogan, arguably the most exciting band in power metal at the moment, has officially raised the bar on what a live release can be. The Book of Ogan is the band’s first-ever live release, and it is, in a word, massive. Actually, calling it simply a live release is selling it way short. Here’s what the mammoth, 4-disc The Book of Ogan gives fans:
Disc 1: The first of two DVDs in this set, it contains the documentary The History of Orden Ogan, which, as the title suggests, documents the band from their earliest days to the present. It’s very comprehensive and well put-together, but is in German, so most of us will have to follow along with the subtitles. The disc also includes all of the band’s music videos and some assorted extras.
Disc 2: This is the second DVD of the set, containing full live performances from the 2015 Rock Harz Open Air and Bamberg performances. Both are fun, high energy shows, and both look and sound great. It is a bit jarring to hear just Seeb singing without all the layered backing vocals that we get on the studio albums, but you get used to it after a few songs.
Disc 3: The first of two audio CDs in this set, this is titled All These Dark Years: The Best of 2008-2015. It’s a 14-track “greatest hits” disc, and is kind of an odd choice for this set, given that the people most likely to buy The Book of Ogan are the serious fans who probably already have the albums these songs are taken from. An audio disc with the live performance would have made more sense here.
Disc 4: The second audio CD is a real treat for Orden Ogan fans. It has the band’s full 2004 Testimonium A.D. demo release, which was independently released and long out of print. This was a really cool addition. It’s just a shame they didn’t tack on the various b-sides from some of their later albums to round out the disc. That would have put this set over the top.
It’s worth mentioning the packaging for this set. The Book of Ogan comes in a sturdy book-like brick of a case. It’s as tall and wide as a DVD case, but about three times as thick. There’s a really nice booklet with tons of photos bound into the front cover, and each disc gets its own sturdy plastic “page.” It’s probably the best looking multi-disc set on the market and goes a long way towards justifying the price tag for this set.
It (almost) goes without saying that The Book of Ogan is a must-have for serious Orden Ogan fans. You simply can’t not own this beast. It’s probably too pricey for casual fans, but at the same time, you really won’t find a better, more comprehensive introduction to Orden Ogan than The Book of Ogan.
Genre: Power Metal
Lineup:
Sebastian “Seeb” Levermann (v) (g) (k)
Tobias Kersting (g)
Niels Loffler (b)
Dirk Meyer-Berhorn (d)
Label: AFM Records
Website: www.ordenogan.de
Hardrock Haven Rating: 9/10
